Business opportunities in the Somali dairy sector
MOGADISHU, March 29th 2021 — In the framework of the project funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) and implemented by UNIDO, the webinar “Business opportunities in the Somali dairy sector” organized by ITPO Italy in collaboration with UNIDO Somalia and CremonaFiere took place on 30 March 2021.
Moderated by ITPO Italy Investment and Promotion Expert Mr. Francesco Pallocca, the first session of the panel discussion was opened by Mr. Ygor Scarcia, UNIDO Industrial Development Expert & Officer in Charge (O.i.C.) to Somalia, and Mr. Najib Abdi, UNIDO Somalia Programme Coordinator, who presented the activities carried out in collaboration with the Somali private sector in the field for local economic growth. After their interventions, Director General of CremonaFiere Eng. Massimo de Bellis introduced the initiatives of the organization to promote the dairy and livestock sectors in Italy and beyond; and finally Prof. Isse Halane, Deputy Director General of the Somali Chamber of Commerce and Industry, with an insightful overview regarding the current industrial and economic scenario of the local dairy sector.
The second session of the webinar notably featured among the panelists several representatives of Somali organizations in the field: among these, Mr. Mohamed Bashir Omar of Malab Dairy Company, Mr. Sahal Abdulle of Somali Bovine Genetics, and Mr. Yusuf Abdiraham of SOMmilk. The companies had the opportunity to present to the Italian audience attending the event their business activities, as well as eventual needs in terms of technologies for milk processing, livestock and dairy products.
The final Q&A session of the conference provided the Italian companies with the opportunity to pose directly questions to the panelists, who furthered the debate discussing business incentives, law regulations, cooperative models and further topics — such as waste managementand centralized cold chain systems — related to the Somali dairy sector.
As a follow-up activity, in the next days the interested Italian companies will have the opportunity to meet the Somali counterparts in ad-hoc B2B sessions, in order to further explore business synergies and discuss potential collaborations and partnerships in the field.
