Mohamed Said Duale (Maxamed Siciid Ducaale, Dahabshiil)

Who is he?

Mohamed Said Duale is a Somali businessman and the founder of Dahabshiil, one of the biggest firms that carry money from Somalis abroad to their families at home (Wikipedia, Mohamed Said Duale). Most Somalis know him by the company's name. In 2019 he told his life story to the scholar Ahmed I. Samatar in a long interview (Samatar, "The Making of Dahabshiil: A Brief Interview", Bildhaan vol. 21, 2021). This page follows that interview.

A herding family

He was born in the Haud, in a herding family, near the village of Habura, now under the town of Gashamo. "I believe I was born around the late forties, perhaps 1948," he said (Samatar 2021). His father died in Yemen in 1966. His older brother worked in Aden and sent money home, but it was not enough for a large family (same source).

He wanted school and town life. He saw herding life as unchanging, with "no opportunities for progress" (Samatar 2021). He went to Burao, studied at night school and worked by day in a relative's shop (same source).

The Burao shop, 1970

In early 1970 a friend of his uncle trusted him to run a shop of his own (Samatar 2021). Wikipedia dates the start of Dahabshiil to this year (Wikipedia). The great drought of the mid-1970s, Dabadheer, hit his herder customers hard and left him in debt. He then imported goods, including a shipment of rice from Bangkok paid for with a bank loan, and cleared his debts (Wikipedia).

Where the name came from

A regular customer once lost a haggle with him and gave him the nickname dheegshiil. "The word spread like a bushfire," he said. Years later he changed it to dahabshiil, "gold fryer", and it became the name of all his businesses (Samatar 2021).

At first the whole staff was family: his wife Fadumo Kahin, his eldest son Abdirashid, and his young cousin Abdirahman, whom he taught bookkeeping (Samatar 2021).

Starting money transfers, 1988

In 1987 and 1988 war reached Burao. His warehouses were lost and he crossed into Ethiopia with almost nothing (Wikipedia). In August 1988 he reached Dire Dawa. Many Somalis abroad wanted to send money to relatives in the refugee camps. He took their money in Dubai, changed it through Djibouti into Ethiopian birr, and carried it to the families himself (Wikipedia; Samatar 2021). This was the start of the transfer business.

Dahabshiil today

The company says it has been in the money transfer business for over 50 years and sends money to more than 100 countries (Dahabshiil). His son Abdirashid Duale is its chief executive. Money sent home is one of the biggest sources of income for Somali families. See Dahabshiil and hawala and money transfer companies.

In short

Founder of Dahabshiil, a money transfer company that operates across the region.