SENIOR INVESTMENT ADVISOR’S STATEMENT

While Foreign Direct Investment is a highly contested business, African countries spend less amount of energy and resources to attract and retain the required private capital to fuel their economic growth.

Somalia, with a post conflict recovering economic characteristics, needs private equity more than any other country in the region. The federal government’s commitment in reforming the investment climate is showing early success indicators. While security is a reality that hiders flow of investment, it is not the only one. Most foreign investors cite security less compared to institutional and regulatory frameworks.

While we continue removing infrastructural bottlenecks and other policy and institutional constraints, we also have to think strategically in diversifying our economy. Somalia is an agricultural based economy with a view to transition to service based and potentially information based.

With this background, Somalia offers potential sectors with high return on investment- Farming, Livestock and Fisheries [Blue Economy] and other enabling sectors worth investment- Finance, Energy, Labor, ICT, Banking and Financial sector, infrastructure and service sector as outlined in recently cabinet endorsed National Investment Promotion Strategy (NIPS).

A number of benchmarking and sectoral studies on the productive sector are on-going and will set the basis for further investment promotion and attraction.

To this end, I would like to take this opportunity to encourage foreign investors and Somalia diaspora to creatively think of partnerships and acquisitions in order to establish their investments in Somalia.

Hassan A. Farah

Senior Investment Advisor at SOMINVEST