(ERGO) – A new cooperative in Mogadishu representing more than 500 manual labourers is successfully connecting workers with jobs, in an increasingly competitive and formalised marketplace.
Mideeye, meaning the unifier, was founded by four veterans in the construction and labour sector. After studying the challenges local Somali workers faced, they decided to create a collective platform to connect skilled workers with employers.
Nur Mahmoud Hassan, one of the founders, said their goal was to give Somali workers a fair chance in a market increasingly dominated by foreign workers.
“Our aim is to help workers regain their jobs,” he said. “We sign agreements with companies and individuals who need construction work because we already have enough skilled workers to do any task.”
He said they were motivated to form the cooperative after seeing that Somali technicians were being overlooked because they lacked formal representation.
“We saw that foreign workers were respected only because they were represented by companies,” Nur said. “So, we decided to become a company ourselves.”
Active members contribute varying amounts each month to sustain its operations and help link them to jobs. If someone has not been linked to a job in a given month, they don’t contribute. The founders plan to expand Mideeye to register labourers in other regions across the country.
Many workers say the initiative has helped them compete for contracts along with workers from other firms.
Abdirahman Osman Abdi, a welder and builder, says since the Mideeye office opened in May, he has secured a job with a steady income.
“Whenever I looked for work, I was asked to bring a guarantor. Now the office stands as my guarantor and gets me regular work. That’s what encouraged me to return to the job I had given up,” he said.
Abdirahman earns about $10 a day and says the income is enough for his family’s basic needs. In August, he moved his family out of Harwanaag displacement camp in Kahda district, where they had been living for a year after he failed to pay his rent.
He now rents two rooms in the city again for $120 a month. In the camp, his family faced food and water shortages and lived in poor shelter, relying on whatever help they could get from relatives in the city.
His children suffered malnutrition in the camp, but he says they have now recovered as he can afford enough food.
Abdirahman had sold all his carpentry tools for $1,500 from his workshop, where he used to make doors and wooden frames, to buy food for the family. Now he is back in the carpentry trade thanks to Mideeye association.
Abdirahman’s family was displaced from Lower Shabelle in 2012 after drought wiped out their goats and camels. Since then, manual work has been the only livelihood he could pursue..
He says joining Mideeye revived his hopes and after hearing about it on social media, the registration process was simple.
Nur Osman Hassan, an electrician with 10 years’ experience, had been out of work for three years before joining Mideeye in June. He now earns at least $10 per installation job, wiring houses for construction projects, and says the regular income has improved life for his nine family members.
“I feel a big change now. I’ve overcome the hardships I was facing. I have a good job, and all the pressures I felt are now gone,” he said.
He used to visit construction companies asking for work, but once they began hiring foreign skilled workers the opportunities disappeared. Joining Mideeye has given him reliable employment and restored his confidence.
“The biggest challenge was being asked for a guarantor before getting hired. Sometimes people even suspected you of being dishonest. Now that problem is gone because we work through the [Mideeye] office as a company,” he said.
Nur has started learning modern electrical installation and safety techniques to keep up with the market. He says working through the office has also solved security concerns, as they are now officially recognized and treated like a registered firm.
