Somali woman starts Cheese factory in Somalia

[GeKo]

Somalia has endless entrepreneurial opportunities if you just look around. Even simple foodstuff that you overlook is being imported at large volumes into the country especially by the growing restaurant businesses.


The important thing you have to keep in mind in investing in Somalia is figuring out where the demand is and what your profit will be after all the expenses.

It's not without it's challenges of course. Electricity, cold storage, machinery imports can all be a headache but with the right mindset it can be extremely rewarding. There's more to bring to Somalia than hotels, restaurants and supermarkets.

 

[Pla]

if only we never had a civil war..

 

[RasCanjero-]

Those products are imported because we can't profitably produce them in Somalia.

That's unless someone invest in all the smaller industries behind those factories.

The most basic is a cold chain sector as well as cheaper electricity ($0.20 /kWh is enough).

However the most important is some decent training opportunities and industry backed certificates.

You can't scale without people.

.................


If only Somali companies banded together to create effective industry associations.

 

[darklight]

i didn't know there was a Somali word for cheese

 

[Jeesto]

i didn't know there was a Somali word for cheese

It's a italian loan word. Farmaajo is the somalized version of the italian word Formaggio which means cheese.
The somali word for cheese is Burcad

 

[darklight]

It's a italian loan word. Farmaajo is the somalized version of the italian word Formaggio which means cheese.
The somali word for cheese is Burcad

oh so its probably only used in the south. is the president also named after this loan word

 

[Jeesto]

oh so its probably only used in the south. is the president also named after this loan word

Yes and yes
A whole president called Cheese

 

[darklight]

Yes and yes
A whole president called Cheese

somalis are funny with their names, at first I believed he was named after armaajo the southern word for a closet, but cheese is even worse lol

 

[Deactivated]

Those products are imported because we can't profitably produce them in Somalia.

That's unless someone invest in all the smaller industries behind those factories.

The most basic is a cold chain sector as well as cheaper electricity ($0.20 /kWh is enough).

However the most important is some decent training opportunities and industry backed certificates.

You can't scale without people.

.................


If only Somali companies banded together to create effective industry associations.

35% of the GDP is spent on diesel to power generators

 

[RasCanjero-]

35% of the GDP is spent on diesel to power generators

Main obstacle is the lack of a transmission infrastructure.

IMO we don't need to run power to every village.

A city wide transmission network shouldn't cost that much and could bring in gains of over 50% a year.

Any investor would love to be part of it but politics is in the way as with all the territorial types of businesses.

If you want to build it in Xamar you'll have a dozen of factions you need to get a green light from as well pay tribute to.

However if you crack it then you should be able to provide cheap power and it might provide a positive feedback loop with businesses moving in and in turn more being created to service them.

 

[Deactivated]

Main obstacle is the lack of a transmission infrastructure.

IMO we don't need to run power to every village.

A city wide transmission network shouldn't cost that much and could bring in gains of over 50% a year.

Any investor would love to be part of it but politics is in the way as with all the territorial types of businesses.

If you want to build it in Xamar you'll have a dozen of factions you need to get a green light from as well pay tribute to.

However if you crack it then you should be able to provide cheap power and it might provide a positive feedback loop with businesses moving in and in turn more being created to service them.

We are dealing with Ciyaal Kacaan over here.

The same group of degenerates that invaded ethiopia with a population of 3 million people.

 

[GeKo]

Main obstacle is the lack of a transmission infrastructure.

IMO we don't need to run power to every village.

A city wide transmission network shouldn't cost that much and could bring in gains of over 50% a year.

Any investor would love to be part of it but politics is in the way as with all the territorial types of businesses.

If you want to build it in Xamar you'll have a dozen of factions you need to get a green light from as well pay tribute to.

However if you crack it then you should be able to provide cheap power and it might provide a positive feedback loop with businesses moving in and in turn more being created to service them.

What type of electricity would be best for us?

We'd need the gov't support to invest in electricity power for the country. It's too large of a cost and a big risk for private investors to start.

Maybe investments from China, building us a coal power plant if feasible along with solar and wind power plants should bring down electricity costs significantly.

 

[RasCanjero-]

What type of electricity would be best for us?

We'd need the gov't support to invest in electricity power for the country. It's too large of a cost and a big risk for private investors to start.

Maybe investments from China, building us a coal power plant if feasible along with solar and wind power plants should bring down electricity costs significantly.

Government doesn't need to be involved if they open up the market fairly.

It's one of the most profitable business in Somalia ATM.

It's probably one of the reasons we're not seeing any improvements as some warlords are profiting from the diesel imports.

Coal and LNG fuels are the cheapest but someone needs to spend a couple hundred million in a plant to make the investment worthwhile.

Puntland and most of our coast could be seen as the Saudi Arabia of wind power.

Hopefully we'll be able to produce our own turbines one day and turn Somalia energy independent.

It isn't exactly base load power but we don't need to import any fuels and nor need any high tech components like in solar.

However none of this will work without a transmission network.

We only need expensive high voltage cables for a couple of miles from the power plants to a major city.

From there we could use much cheaper cables that we could produce ourselves.

We should be able to cover a significant percentage of Xamar for around 10 million.

Once you have the transmission network then you could open up an electricity market where anyone could hook up their small power plant and sell power through options, futures etc.

Don't see it as a single business but opening up the gates to 1000s of business opportunities.