Dur-Dur Onion Is Working Toward Food Security in Burao, Somaliland

My name is Nasra Mohamed Ibrahim, I live in Burao and I am the founder of Dur-Dur Onion firm based in Burao. My idea has come up due to the social need for local productions same as the need across the country in particular to this region. The need is that there is less of local firm’s productions and the people are pastoralists. This results to import all daily used vegetables and crops from the neighboring countries of Ethiopia, Yemen, for example. Onion is imported from Yemen and it reaches the market with high price and become highly damaged which couldn’t be used for consumption. We asked ourselves why we don’t cultivate the firms in our region and why don’t we supply our market with fresh vegetables. the main challenge we were solving is to bring fresh onion with less price to the market.

I saw Harhub on Somalijobs.com. I submitted an online application, I was shortlisted, interviewed, and then we were trained. The benefits of the training included how to develop financial predictions. After I finished the training, we pitched our business idea and I received $5,000 of equity investment. This was not enough to my business and you know farms need a lot of money to invest. Therefore, Harhub once again the opportunity to use Tarmiye Crowdfunding platform where I collected other $5,000 from my family and friends and I started my business with a total of $10,000.

The changes which the investment I received from Harhub has made to me is: firstly, I converted my idea into an existing business, secondly, as a female who studied an agriculture, I solved Harhub investment to start working on agriculture. Also, today I can directly sell the fresh crops to the market and at the same time, we created jobs. Previously, there were 3 staff working with me and now I have 7 employees.

Actually, Harhub does not only make an investment, but also it makes a Networking session where youth interchange their ideas. Therefore, utilizing this opportunity, I showcased my idea where other NGOs have wondered my idea and I got from them an extra investment. This was another opportunity Harhub gave me.

I felt the influence of my business when the COVID-19 occurred. Universal lockdown happened including Ethiopia, the only country we import from vegetables, and at that time, we were producing lots of onion. We felt the need of our country to promote local production. People were buying from us soon after we prepare the sacks of onion to cry to the market. I realized the importance of promoting local production.