SOMALIA - NOMINEES TO THE PRESIDENT'S

UNCLAS NAIROBI 002470 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/E STATE ALSO FOR S/P GREG BEHRMAN AND R/PPR SEHREEN NOOR-ALI E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON SOCI EAID KPAO SO SUBJECT: SOMALIA - NOMINEES TO THE PRESIDENT'S ENTREPRENEURSHIP SUMMIT REF: STATE 112468 ¶1. Post and its Somalia Unit appreciate the opportunity to submit Somali entrepreneur nominees to the President's Entrepreneurship Summit in Q1 2010 (in para 2). We chose the nominees in consultation with our private sector, NGO and civil society partners. We have also included (in para 3) our public diplomacy plan. Nominees -------------- ¶2. Somalia Unit nominees for the Summit follow: -- Mr. Abdirahman Nur, President/Chief Executive Officer of Eastern Television Network. Mr. Nur is a Somali-Canadian and founder of the largest television network in Somalia. Previously, he was Vice President of Strategy and Product Management at Telecom Somalia, another company he helped found. Nur has bachelor's and master's degrees in telecommunications from York University in Toronto. -- Ms. Alhan Jama, Director, Ismail Import Partners. Ms. Jama is a founder and Hargeisa (Somalia) director of Ismail Imports, which opened in 1999. The company exports frankincense resin to Dubai and the United States. Seeing the need for improved education in her home region, she also founded Hayaha Elementary School in Erigavo, in the Somaliland region of Somalia. Alhan holds a bachelor of science in chemistry from Thiel College, Greenville, Pennsylvania. She is also a certified laboratory technician. -- Dr. Ali Sheikh Abubakar, President, Mogadishu University. Dr. Abubakar is a founder of Somalia's largest institution of higher learning. This private, for-profit school has been lauded as a bright light in war-torn Mogadishu. In 1984 Dr. Abubakar received his PhD from Medina University in Saudi Arabia. He was Professor of Islamic Civilization at King Saud University from 1984-1993 and Director of the Horn of Africa Center for Journalism from 1994-1996. Dr. Abubakar is the author of six books on Islam in the Horn of Africa. -- Mr. Farah Abdikadir, Chairman, Somali Institute of Management and Administration Development (SIMAD). Mr. Farah founded private business school SIMAD 10 years ago. Currently the school has 2,200 students studying business administration, information technology, and accounting. Mr. Farah holds a Bachelor of Law (LLB) in Sharia and Law and MBA from Esami and Maastricht (Netherlands) School of Management. -- Mrs. Nasra Malin, Finance Director, Nationlink Telecom. Somali native Mrs. Nasra is a co-founder of Nationlink, a telecommunications company in Somalia. She previously served as an accountant for Nissan's automotive distributor in Somalia. Mrs. Nasra has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Missouri's Jefferson University. -- Mr. Abdullahi Dirie, Managing Director, Jubba Airlines. Mr. Dirie is the largest shareholder and managing director of the airline which was founded in 1991. Jubba is Somalia's largest passenger and freight air carrier. Mr. Farah received an electrical engineering degree from British Columbia University. -- Mr. Mohamed Abdulahi Sheikh, President of Telecom Somalia. Mr. Sheikh founded Telecom Somalia, the first private phone company in Somalia, in 1993. Telecom Somalia now provides cell phone and internet service throughout Somalia. In 2007, he founded DALKOM, which established Somalia's first fiber optic landing stations linking to undersea telecommunications cables. Mr. Sheikh began his business career in the food and beverage sector by opening what has become the largest bottling plant of water and carbonated beverages in Somalia. -- Mr. Abdikadir Hashi, Director General, Qaran Express. Mr. Hashi is the founder of Qaran Express, a money transfer company he founded in 2005. He holds a BA in Education and Arabic Language from Sudan's International Africa University. Qaran Express offers money remittance service nationally and internationally. -- Ms Amina Ahmed, Director, Livingcos (K),Ltd. A native of Mogadishu, Ms. Amina has a business degree from Mogadishu University. She has 20 years business experience in restaurants and international trading. She founded her latest venture, cosmetics importer Livingcos, in 2005. -- Mr. Hamid Ibrahim, CEO, Bakaal Commercial Brokers. Mr. Hamid founded the commercial investment and money transfer company. Previously, he had worked in banking in Australia and United Arab Emirates, including ANZ Bank where he was senior financial analyst, and Operations Manager for Barwaqo Money Transfer Company. Hamid holds an MBA from Wollongong University, Dubai. Public Diplomacy Plan -------------- ¶3. Our PD efforts will highlight the Summit and the themes of the Cairo speech with a feature on our Virtual Presence Post (VPP) website. We are hoping Summit organizers will broadcast the Summit. Time zones and technology allowing, we hope to mount a DVC between the Somali community in Nairobi and the Summit, including a viewing of the President's and others' speeches, and discussion sessions afterward. If available, we will participate in DVC sessions with Washington officials in the run-up to the Summit. ¶4. We will encourage media coverage of both the Summit and events in advance of the Summit, including gatherings of Somalia business leaders we may sponsor. We will consider a small PD grant for the group of Somali nominees to encourage the group to remain engaged and reach out to younger, less-accomplished entrepreneurs. ¶5. If one or more Somalis is chosen to attend the Summit, we will: -- Host a web chat with the Somali participant(s) while they are at the summit in Washington, focusing on the U.S. recognition of these beacons of hope in a country that has suffered nearly two decades of instability. -- Host a DVC with the Somali participant(s) while they are at the Summit in Washington. -- Arrange and facilitate media appearances for the Somali participant(s) on Somali media outlets, offering them a chance to highlight their participation in the Summit and the U.S. commitment to Muslim entrepreneurs. -- If appropriate, provide a small public diplomacy grant to the entrepreneur for use in a well-branded program linking entrepreneurship with the road to recovery for Somalia (e.g. a program at Mogadishu University or SIMAD to be conducted by the nominees). -- During their Summit attendance, have the participant(s) perform domestic outreach to the Somali-American community, which is highly influential in the ongoing effort to achieve peace and stability in Somalia. RANNEBERGER