Abdirashid Duale

Abdirashid Duale is a Somali entrepreneur and the CEO of Dahabshiil, one of the largest money transfer firm in the world with its headquarters in Burao, Somaliland. His father began the company in the early 1970s as a commodities trading firm, but it quickly expanded to provide money transfer services to Somali diaspora members wishing to send money home. Abdirashid in now the decision maker and controls the firm. Dahabshiil has currently thousands stores in different countries and employs thousands of people. Dahabshiil also provides debit cards, reward points, and SMS notification services, as well as the first fully operating bank in Somaliland, which is now being built in the capital. Abdirashid Duale claims that the company sends $200 million in remittances to east African nations outside of Somalia each year and that it also remits a significant amount of the $1.6 billion transferred back to Somalia each year, making it the largest money-transfer service in the Horn of Africa. In early 2009, Dahabshiil opened an Islamic bank, Dahabshil Bank International, in Djibouti. The iternational bank provides services to business and private clients demanding Shariah-compliant financing. In that same year, Dahabshiil teamed up with leading Somali retailers, hotels, restaurants, and petrol stations to launch ‘Dahabshiil eCash’, Somalia first debit card service.

The firm’s services are managed according to international regulations to combat terrorism, money laundering and other illegal activities. It is a member of the International Association of Money Transfer Networks (IAMTN), the UK Money Transmitter Association and the USA Money Transmitter Association In 2010, Dahabshiil became the first international payments firm to achieve authorisation from the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA), under the Payment Services Regulations of that year which demand the highest standards of security, customer protection, transparency and speed of delivery. Dahabshiil invests a huge amount of its annual profits in community projects aimed at improving schools, hospitals, agriculture and sanitation services. It also sponsors a number of social events. In 2023, CEO Duale’s Dahabshil donated $300,000 to help rebuild Wajaale regional trading hub that was destroyed by fire and further 20 million birr to businesses affected by the fire at Jijiga’s Taiwan Market. The Group has also donated $200,000 to assist families who were displaced in Las Anod. As it has always been the norm when disasters strike, the firm contributed greatly to the community’s assistance in the drought and flood disasters in 2023 which have affected the lives of millions of Somalis in different ways.