(ERGO) – A company set up by a Somali returnee offering easy loans or rental of motorised rickshaws in Mogadishu is proving a popular way for unemployed youth, some of them also returnees from abroad, to earn a living.
Abdullahi Ahmed Jilacow, 50, returned from Germany after 15 years and bought five Bajaj three-wheelers. Now his Al Baraka Bajaj company has sold or rented out the vehicles known as tuk-tuks to 200 youth, at a time when banks have stopped offering loans for them.
The company sells the vehicles with flexible payment plans and minimal administration. They need a driving licence and a guarantor, who can be a parent. For those renting, they don’t need to pay for days when they were sick or faced other difficulties or illness.
According to Abdullahi, he is partnering young people to give them better opportunity.
“A person who yesterday couldn’t manage his family or provide for his wife and children now prays for me and says, ‘Now I work; before I had nothing. I provide for my wife, my parents.’ Some are joining savings groups to build up funds. This is what makes me happy and why I love this work. If you achieve something yourself, you feel joy. But if you help another person, your brother, feel joy, you experience something even greater,” Abdullahi told Radio Ergo.
“For a poor person with nothing, being told that he’ll own this and work with it, and it will be his by paying $20 a day, of course he will work hard with ambition. He knows that tomorrow he can become someone and will own this tuk-tuk and support his family.”
Liban Ali Ibrahim, 42, has been earning $30-40 a day since January, driving tuk-tuks in District of Twenty in Banadir region.
“When you work, you are productive. It means being able to pay house bills, electricity, water and small needs like healthcare and school fees. The company has helped me a lot,” he said.
Liban was unemployed and his two wives and 13 children used to rely on relatives for food. In March, he enrolled four of his children in primary and middle school paying $90 monthly for their food, education, and transport.
“When a person works, they are productive and contribute to their community. I gained all this through this company where I am a driver. If I didn’t have this job, there would be no life. You can imagine the burden on a man with two families who is unemployed,” he said.
He has two rented tuk-tuks so he can navigate Mogadishu’s traffic management system that categorises the vehicles for access to the city on alternate days.
He pays $15 daily to operate them and after the household expenses still saves $180-200 a month.
“As I have a large family, it is essential for me to put something aside. I also want to make a change and create job opportunities by starting a business like this with two or three tuk-tuks,” he said.
“It is the youth, our future, who can change this country. The elders have had their time. So when we think about our youth and support and encourage them and create jobs for them, this country will have a future.”
Meanwhile, Aden Sheikh Ali bought a tuk-tuk worth $4,500 on credit from Abdullahi Ahmed Jilacow’s company in March. He has to pay back $10 a day and easily earns three times that in his profits.
Aden had lived in South Africa for 12 years, but returned to Somalia with nothing after an armed group looted and set fire to the shop he co-owned with two other Somalis. He managed to rescue $700 from the nearly $20,000 worth of goods he had in the shop to buy an air ticket back to Mogadishu in 2023.
Unemployment faced him back in Somalia, and he considered migrating again to Libya or Saudi Arabia.
After two miserable years, Aden, 37, said the tuk-tuk deal has enabled him to become financially independent and to support his wife, six children, and mother
“I earn more than I did in South Africa, and I’m together with my family. My children play around me. Before, I was away and had no happiness.
We were struggling with bills and everything. Now this job has brought me many things and given me much ambition. I believe there is no better place for me than this country,” Aden said.
