Somali media companies: who founded and owns Somali TV, radio and news sites

The short version

When the state broadcaster stopped working in 1991, private Somali companies filled the gap with FM radio, then satellite TV and news websites. Media Landscapes notes that many of the Somali-language satellite TV channels were founded in the diaspora (Media Landscapes, Somalia: television). Two TV services are run by authorities: Somali National Television (1983) in Mogadishu and Somaliland National TV (2004) in Hargeisa (same source; Wikipedia, Mass media in Somalia). For how Somalis get their news and the safety of journalists, see Media in Somalia.

The best-known companies

HornAfrik (1999 to 2010). Opened in Mogadishu on 12 December 1999 by Ahmed Abdisalam Adan, Mohamed Elmi and Ali Iman Sharmarke, Somali emigrants to Canada. It was the first independent radio network headquartered in Mogadishu and ran Radio HornAfrik, Capital Voice, HornAfrik TV, a website and a training centre (Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, Mohamed Elmi; Wikipedia, HornAfrik). Its founders won CJFE's International Press Freedom Award in 2002. Ali Iman Sharmarke was killed in Mogadishu in 2007 (CJFE, Ali Iman Sharmarke). HornAfrik closed in 2010 (Wikipedia, HornAfrik).

Hiiraan Online (1999). A news website founded in Ottawa on 1 July 1999 by Ahmed Gure, a former Somali Airlines captain, and still run from Ottawa. It publishes in English and Somali and carries job adverts for aid agencies and government (University of Alberta, Minority Media archive; Open Society Foundations, Mapping digital media, December 2011).

Shabelle Media Network (2002). Founded in 2002 in Merca by a group of young Somali graduates and later moved to Mogadishu; it began satellite TV to Africa, Asia and Australia and in 2005 added North America and Europe (Radio Netherlands Media Network, 30 April 2005, archived). Its owner is Abdimaalik Yusuf Banna (Wikipedia, Shabelle Media Network). Reporters Without Borders named Radio Shabelle its media of the year in 2010 (RSF, December 2010, archived). Several of its directors and reporters were killed between 2007 and 2012 (VOA, 21 September 2012).

Universal TV (2005). A private satellite channel set up in 2005, with studios in London and Kuala Lumpur, described as the first and largest Somali satellite network of its type (Mapping the Somali Media, 2012; Somali Directory UK, archived). A UK company, Universal Somali TV Limited, is on the Companies House register (Companies House, 10839282). Somaliland police closed its Hargeisa office on 27 June 2020, and Somaliland withdrew its licence on 12 February 2025 (Somaliland.com, archived 2020; Somali Magazine, 2025). A Somaliland minister named its owner as Engineer Ahmed Abubakar (Horn Observer).

Horn Cable TV (2003). A private news channel in Hargeisa, owned by Farhan Haji Ali (Wikipedia, Horn Cable Television).

Garowe Online (2004). A bilingual news site in Garowe owned by Garowe News Group, which also owns Radio Garowe. A BBC analysis in 2011 described it as read every morning by Puntland ministers and officials (Wikipedia, Garowe Online).

Founding years of other outlets

From the table in Wikipedia's article on Somali media (Wikipedia, Mass media in Somalia):

Sources disagree

• HornAfrik's founders. CJFE and Wikipedia name three founders; some versions of the Wikipedia article list only two (sources above).
• HornAfrik's closure. Wikipedia gives 2010 in its summary and says it closed "the year after" its 2008 ninth anniversary (Wikipedia, HornAfrik).
• Horseed Media. The same Wikipedia table gives 2002 in one row and 2008 in another (Wikipedia, Mass media in Somalia).