From Piracy to Blue Economy

This is a tale of unintended consequences and serendipity…how the hijacking of a Danish ship off the coast of Somalia, led to a new industry and a stable food source – and along with it, dozens of Unexpected Entrepreneurs…many of them women.

Nothing Danish shipowner Per does is typical. When pirates seized his ship and crew, he personally negotiated with pirates for their release.

Then he started a non-profit organization to establish a fishing industry in the peaceful, autonomous, East African republic of Somaliland – a place desperately needing jobs, but with little history of fishing or even swimming. In the past, large families of pastoral nomads had always relied on camels, goats and sheep for food and their livelihoods.

The challenge: while Per and his colleagues were teaching people the business and how-to’s of fishing, they also had to convince this nation of meat-eaters to EAT the fish.

At the same time, the effects of climate change made fishing a necessity as frequent droughts devastated the economy, threatening the survival of entire communities as livestock were wiped out. Young men from tribal families found work either as fishers, or in one of the many other jobs in the industry.

Unexpected Entrepreneur Mustafa is taking advantage of the new blue economy. He’s among many entrepreneurs creating jobs through his fish delivery, retail and export business. “No fishing infrastructure existed here – not even at the ports.”

Tiny coastal villages that line the edge of the Indian Ocean are loaded with rich stocks of tuna and other fish.

The problem, “the culture has nothing to do with the sea.”

To overcome that and the problem of an unskilled labor pool, Mustafa set up a training program to cultivate his own workforce of fishermen, truck drivers and staff to help unload fishing boats. He now employs 100 people and exports fish to Ethiopia.

Mustafa has made such a big impact he changed the fate of an entire village. “People didn’t have any work. Now, fishermen make about $250 per month.”

Fish restaurants and shops have multiplied, many of them owned by women. Unexpected Entrepreneur Sahra owns one of the 100 fish restaurants in Hargeisa. Hers has grown from a street stall into a sit-down restaurant with 36 covers. “No one knew how to make fish, so I always overcooked it, but now I have different recipes.” She tripled her income and employs people affected by the drought – supporting their families through their work at the restaurant.

In From Piracy to Blue Economy, travel, to the tiny East African republic of Somaliland, to the villages where Mustafa is helping communities combat the effects of climate change while tapping a new, nutritious and sustainable food source, and to Hargeisa, where Sahra and others have grown profitable businesses while shaping a new food culture.