Mohamud Barow Hassan, 25, was pleased to get a job as a motorbike rider in December 2023 after being out of work for five months. He supports his wife and two children, as well as his four siblings and mother, on the $15-20 a day that he makes from delivery services, after paying the $7 motorbike hiring fee.
“I’m happy, that shows I’m getting confident and I can provide a livelihood for my parents and wife. I can support their needs,” he said.
Before turning to the FEKON motorbikes that are now multiplying in Mogadishu, he drove a rental tuktuk taxi but had to give up when the government introduced new rules controlling tuk-tuks in the capital city.
At the end of March 2023, the government introduced two tuk-tuk groups, marked yellow and blue, with operators of each only allowed on alternate days in the city.
Mohamud said his income was halved and he had to quit tuk-tuk taxi driving that he had been doing since leaving high school, forcing the family to depend on $100 a month sent from their relatives in Sweden. They even had to move out of their rental house in Karan district, and his three siblings dropped out of school as he failed to pay their fees.
Since his father died nine years ago, Mohamud’s mother was working hard at an $80 a month cleaning job in Hamarweyne. The FEKON bike has enable Mohamud to take over as main provider.
“There are many differences, tuk-tuks have to queue to get customers and it wasted a lot of time. This is different because you navigate straight to the neighborhoods where you want to be,” he said.
In February he was able to pay the $21 a month to put his siblings back in school. He also hopes to save up for his own university education.
Motorbikes are offering an income for an estimated 950 young people in Mogadishu currently, providing transport and delivery services. The two-wheelers have begun to bring big changes to transportation and the traffic culture on the streets of the capital city.
Ahmed Abdirisak Mohamed, 28, an internally displaced person living in Hodan district, has also taken to a FEKON motorbike and says the $10-20 he earns a day supports his mother and four siblings. He had been unemployed for six months.
“Sometimes we would miss out of food for a whole day. We now get two to three meals a day,” he said.
His two sisters and two brothers had been forced to discontinue their education but are now back in Dhimbil primary school where he pays $28 a month for their fees.
He adds substantially to his mother’s humble earnings from cleaning jobs and selling ground nuts. He hopes to save up to get his family out of the IDP camp where they have lived for five years.
“I have joined this company that rents motor bikes, I took tests on my driving skills then I got the job. That is how I earn my income, I get a decent income and I can save some money,” he said.
Ahmed’s family were displaced from Jowhar in 2019 after their four-hectare farm was submerged in flood water.
One of the companies running FEKON bike delivery services is Amin Motors based at Kilometrer-4 in Mogadishu. The manager Ahmed Yusuf Mulah said their employees are mostly youths from impoverished backgrounds.
“Our requirement is to get a young person who can drive the bike and take responsibility. We don’t have many conditions,” he said.
