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Many investors are now seeing Somalia as an increasingly enticing market for investment as the country starts rebuilding itself from scratch/FILE

Kenya

Investors keenly eye Somalia opportunities

“I moved to Mogadishu last year to be able to work well in my position and as you know, things were still not very good. There were attacks here and there especially in the town. But for us to have a hotel of about 70 rooms with even presidential suites, it means our priority was capitalizing on the business potential we saw ahead,” Kisaulu says.

“Our aim with my fellow directors was not joining the ‘insecurity song’ about Somalia but taking part in rebuilding the country.”

He says the hotel has been able to attract all kinds of tourists with one of their marketing strategy being assuring their customers of total security and giving good services. All the visitors have to be accompanied by armed security officers from the airport to the hotel and vice versa.

“We don’t just accommodate any person because they are visiting Somalia. No… we start vetting them way early by looking at where the visitor is coming from and why he or she is in the city,” he says.

“I am a Kenyan and a father of two but my family still lives in Nairobi for various reasons. But Somalia is a safer place even if I am not with my family there.”

The crucial issues to be addressed in the country are infrastructure and provisions of basic social amenities like water, food, proper shelter, energy among others.

“Somalia is very important to us and the first reason is that we are neighbours,” says Jackson Machuhi, East Africa head of sales at Barefoot Power Africa, a manufacturer and distributor of solar lighting products.

“If Kenya has only 31 percent power penetration, what about Somalia? We have plans to go there too and be counted as among the developers of the country,” he said.

The first Somali Reconstruction and Investment Conference and Exhibition held in Nairobi last week was evidence that indeed the Somalia government is open for investors.

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The two-day event brought together key policy makers from the Government of Somalia and Somaliland, top decision makers from international and regional development organizations, and participants from public and private sector.

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