Dahabshiil was founded by Mr. Mohamed Saeed Duale. It started off as a remittance brokerage selling imported goods from Gulf states on behalf of migrant workers and transferring the proceeds back to their families. In the year 1970 Dahabshiil opened its first shop in Burao, the capital city of the Togdheer province in North-West Somalia; now known as Somaliland. Over the next 18 years Mr. Mohamed and his support staff expanded the business making it the leading remittance broker in the Horn of Africa region.

In 1988 the Somalia civil war, that broke out forcing more that half a million Somalis to seek refuge in different parts of the world, was a major setback to the business. This however didn’t kill Mr. Duale’s dream. With limited resources, strong network of business associates and his experience, Mr. Duale set up a new remittance venture enabling Somali refugees to send goods back to displaced family members. The influx of Somali population in the United Kingdom enabled setting up of a new office there and as long as their population grew, so did Dahabshiil.

In 2009, Dahabshiil made banking history by launching the first ever debit card in Somaliland. The following year we opened an Islamic bank in Djibouti.

Over 40 years on since we began, Dahabshiil has stuck to the original values it was founded upon; trust and responsibility. We have zero debt and our business is 100% family owned. We are still committed to our fair commission fee policy.

As part of our CSR, Dahabshiil continues to support the Somali community both in Africa and abroad, investing 5% of its profits into community regeneration projects involving the development of schools, hospitals, agriculture and sanitation.