(ERGO) – A group of enterprising school students in the northern Somali city of Bosasso has been earning money for their hard-up families during this intensely hot season by selling fruit juices.
Mohamud Shirwa Adan, 23, has been supporting his family of seven people by working 10 hours a day at the table he started equipped with two cooler boxes, 10 glasses, 25 kilos of sugar, and five kilos of fresh fruit, bought with a $200 investment loan from his relative.
He is earning $10-$15 and paying for his family’s basic needs.
“I send most of the money I earn to the family as it became very hot in this place and my family went to Qardho. They are staying in a house and paying $200 rent from my business earnings. This job has made a big difference in our lives,” he said.
Mohamud is one of 30 secondary school students who set up a group when their schools closed for the holidays to share business ideas. They help each other source fruit from other regions and buy them cheaper together instead of ordering separately. They also have a WhatsApp group.
He is determined to give his family a better life and is planning to send his two brothers back to school after they were sent home for failing to pay the fees. He himself was able to keep studying as his aunt who runs a shop in the city paid his fees.
“My plan is not to be doing this forever. I hope to work in this job while we are in the hot season and make some money. When we get to the cold season juice and water business won’t be viable,” he said.
Mohamed Ali Osman, 19, in 8th grade at Imamu Shafii school, says he is happy to be helping his family with the juice stall he set up with $150 from his mother. His mother’s laundry income shrank as her clients moved out of Bosaso when temperatures became intensely hot.
“I earn five, six, or seven dollars a day profit and go home with my earnings and this has enabled me to support my family,” he said.
Mohamed’s family came to Bosaso after being displaced from Dangoronyo, Nugal region, in 2017 after prolonged drought killed their 80 goats and two camels. His father, a porter in Bosaso port, died in 2020 of blood pressure. Mohamed is happy to have filled his father’s shoes as family breadwinner.
Abdirisaq Abdullahi Farah, who owns a grocery store in the city, is one of the businessmen who have given permission to the youth to set up stalls in front of their premises.
“Since they are young people who have just started in business, the work they are doing is progressive, they need support, so they use my space for free. There is a lot that can be learned from the work they are doing now, and it is encouraging,” Abdirisaq said.
