# Zaad: Telesom's mobile money service in Somaliland > Zaad in facts: the 2009 launch by Telesom, how it was built, merchants and salaries, the dollar and money changers, usage figures, currency exchange and the 2024 GSMA certification. Source page: https://calankii.com/en/businesses/zaad/ Last checked: 2026-11-12 Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com) ## The short version **Zaad** is the mobile money service of [Telesom](/en/businesses/telesom/), the leading phone company in [Somaliland](/en/states/somaliland-1991-to-2026/). Telesom launched it in **June 2009** as Somaliland's first mobile money service ([GSMA, Innovative Inclusion: How Telesom ZAAD Brought Mobile Money to Somaliland, 2013, p. 1](https://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Telesom-Somaliland.pdf)). It is free for customers and holds money in **US dollars** ([GSMA](https://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/uncategorized/developing-a-currency-exchange-functionality-to-drive-mobile-money-usage-a-new-mobile-money-innovation-in-somaliland/)). ## How it was built - **The company:** in 2013 Telesom had close to **1 million** mobile connections, about 85 percent of the Somaliland market. It was founded in 2002 and owned by about **1,500 shareholders**, all Somalilanders living at home or abroad ([GSMA 2013, p. 2](https://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Telesom-Somaliland.pdf)). - **The investment:** Telesom put about **$1 million** into the service in its first year. A quarter of that went into building its own platform with its own programmers (same source, p. 3). - **Free to use:** the company made the service free from the start, so that it would keep customers on its phone network (same source, pp. 2–3). - **Own shops as agents:** instead of signing up outside agents, Telesom used the shops it already owned and staffed, because Somaliland had no banking network or suitable chain of stores (same source, p. 3). ## Merchants and salaries Telesom's aim was to keep money inside the system, not to have people cash out every transfer. When Zaad launched in June 2009, **170 merchants** had already agreed to take payments through it ([GSMA 2013](https://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Telesom-Somaliland.pdf)). The company also persuaded employers to pay salaries into Zaad wallets. In one example from the study, 300 of the 450 staff at [Amoud University](/en/institutions/main-universities/) received their full salary through Zaad (same source). Customers had to show an identity document, such as a passport or driving licence, at a Telesom shop to register (same source). ## Usage - **One year after launch**, more than **70 percent** of Zaad subscribers were actively using the service. The active rate never fell below 70 percent up to the 2013 study ([GSMA 2013, section 3](https://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Telesom-Somaliland.pdf)). - By **June 2012** almost **40 percent** of Telesom's phone subscribers were active Zaad users (same source, p. 1). - Active users made **more than 30 transactions a month** on average, against a world average of 8.5 (same source, p. 1). - The World Bank's Findex survey found that 26 percent of people in Somalia used a phone to pay bills, then the highest rate in the world. The GSMA study said most of this activity came from Zaad (same source, p. 1). ## Currency exchange Most Zaad money is held in dollars, but Somaliland shillings are used for small purchases, so money changers are a key part of the system ([GSMA 2013](https://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Telesom-Somaliland.pdf)). Telesom later added an exchange service inside Zaad, which the GSMA describes as a way to drive more mobile money use ([GSMA](https://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/uncategorized/developing-a-currency-exchange-functionality-to-drive-mobile-money-usage-a-new-mobile-money-innovation-in-somaliland/)). ## Certification In September 2024 Telesom announced that the GSMA had certified Zaad under its Mobile Money Certification programme. The programme, introduced in 2018, checks services against more than 300 criteria ([The Standard, 18 September 2024](https://standardmedia.co.ke/business/amp/nairobi/article/2001502936/somaliland-mobile-money-service-gets-gsma-certification)). For the other services, see [EVC Plus](/en/businesses/evc-plus/), [Sahal](/en/businesses/sahal/) and [eDahab](/en/businesses/edahab/). For the wider picture, see [Mobile money in Somalia](/en/economy/mobile-money/) and [Somaliland's economy](/en/economy/somaliland-economy/). --- I want to help with this: email hello@calankii.com. Fix this page: email hello@calankii.com with the page link and your source.