WorldRemit founder Ismail Ahmed has committed $500 million of his own wealth and investments to Somaliland-focused development programmes over the next 10 years.
Ismail’s foundation is based in London and Hargeisa, Somaliland’s capital and will initially focus on education, healthcare and infrastructure projects across Somaliland.
The Sahamiye Foundation seeks to help over 1 million adults and young people acquire literacy skills in the Somali language and double Somaliland’s literacy rate from 45% to 90% by 2023.
The Foundation will also support over 100,000 people to develop technical and vocational skills for employment and entrepreneurship; invest in start-up accelerators, and increase levels of health and financial literacy across the country’s population.
“Over the next ten years, my ambition is to be able to commit $500 million of my own wealth and investments to Somaliland-focused development programmes. As we have seen from recent inward investment to Somaliland, the potential multiplier effect is even more compelling,” Ismail Ahmed, founder of Sahamiye Foundation said.
Drawing on Ismail Ahmed’s experience and background in building and scaling a globally successful technology company, Sahamiye Foundation will adopt a start-up philosophy and mindset to invest in programmes that will help to overcome barriers to Somaliland’s growth and development and to build ‘homegrown’ products and platforms.
