Somalia Investment Promotion Office (SOMINVEST) Director Mohamed Dubo wants more foreign investments, highlighting the East African country’s rich resources.
Explaining to Anadolu that the office is responsible for promoting foreign direct investment as well as coordinating domestic investments, Dubo said: “We start from investment promotion, attraction, and then we facilitate those who want to come and invest in Somalia, and then we support the existing investors in Somalia.”
“Come and experience Somalia culture. Come and experience Somalia economy. Most of the information out there about Somalia might not be true. Come and explore Somalia. It’s a resourceful country,” he appealed to investors.
Somalia is culturally rich, highly receptive, and welcoming, Dubo said, expressing hope that more Turkish investors would explore Somalia.
He said the top five sectors for foreign direct investment are the productive sectors, including farming, fisheries and livestock, as well as the energy and financial sectors.
Turkish investors reshape Somalia’s economic landscape
Dubo said SOMINVEST has an investment facilitation section that typically handles incoming inquiries.
He said most of the inquiries come from Türkiye, noting that the agency has Turkish-speaking Somali staff who typically engage with Turkish investors, who are mainly interested in greenfield investments.
“They want to come to Somalia, invest in Somalia, compared to other nationals who want to establish brownfield investments, meaning they want to invest in Somalia without necessarily coming,” he said.
He noted many Turkish investors — corporations and individuals — are already active in Somalia, primarily in the contract services sector.
He said the Mogadishu Port and Mogadishu Airport were managed by Turkish firms, and several construction, processing and manufacturing companies were owned and operated by Turkish nationals.
Somalia’s new company law allows 100% foreign ownership, unlike previous laws that limited full ownership by foreign nationals, the director noted.
Turkish engagement fuels Somalia’s development and investment growth
Dubo said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s 2011 visit to Somalia was primarily humanitarian, with subsequent visits emphasizing development, marked by Turkish Airlines’ entry into the Somali airspace and the arrival of investors establishing operations.
The 2016 visit was primarily a development trip, he highlighted.
“Together with him was a sizable number of foreign investors representing various sectors in Türkiye who wanted to come and invest in Somalia. They have an established presence. Most of them are in the construction space. Others are in the service sector,” he said.
Dubo pointed to Türkiye’s state-run participation lender Ziraat Bank’s branch opened in Somalia, saying it has improved financial services and transformed the environment in the country.
“We need to do a lot of efforts in improving our legal and regulatory space. We need to improve a lot of our institutional arrangement. We need to improve our ease of doing business. And we need to improve our national perception towards foreign investors,” he said.
SOMINVEST typically provides tax support as well as non-tariff and non-fiscal assistance, including visa facilitation, work permit facilitation and land allocation, Dubo added.
Anadolu.