Somalia’s Prime Minister, German Ambassador Discuss Fresh Investment Opportunities

Somalia Courts German Investment as Mogadishu Seeks to Turn Stability Gains into Jobs

On a sweltering Monday in Mogadishu, Somali Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre sat down with Germany’s ambassador, Sebastian Groth, for a conversation that was part pitch, part signal. Somalia, he said, has “vast investment potential” in fisheries, industry and livestock. Germany, Groth responded, is preparing to send senior officials to explore those opportunities on the ground.

It wasn’t a flashy announcement—no ribbon cuttings, no signed contracts. But in a region where stability has long seemed to slip just as momentum gathers, the meeting carried a quieter significance: a cautious door opening between a country looking to convert hard-won reforms into livelihoods and a European power seeking to align values-driven development with viable business.

Why this matters now

Somalia has been inching toward a new chapter. Debt relief under the IMF-World Bank Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative cut the country’s external arrears dramatically in late 2023. The United Nations lifted a decades-old arms embargo the same year, a symbolic acknowledgment of institutional progress. And Somalia’s admission to the East African Community offers a wider regional market, even as technical steps to operationalize membership continue.

Against that backdrop, bringing in foreign direct investment is the next, and arguably hardest, mile. Germany’s interest—underscored by the ambassador’s comment that development and economic ministries will dispatch a delegation—suggests Berlin sees an opening. Germany has been a steady supporter of Somalia through EU programs and its development agencies. But investment demands different tools: risk appetite, political cover, and patient capital.

Where Germany could plug in

• Fisheries: Somalia boasts more than 3,000 kilometers of coastline, the longest on mainland Africa. Coastal communities have watched foreign vessels profit from tuna, lobster and other stocks, often without local benefit. German expertise in cold-chain logistics, certification, and small-scale processing could change that calculus—if paired with strong governance to curb illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. For Berlin, supporting a “blue economy” dovetails with EU maritime security efforts in the region and with global sustainability commitments.
• Livestock: Livestock has long been Somalia’s economic backbone, accounting for a major share of export earnings, primarily to Gulf markets. Droughts in recent years devastated herds, and climate volatility remains a threat. Veterinarian services, fodder production, modern quarantine facilities and climate-resilient practices are all investment niches. They may not be glamorous, but they are scalable and job-rich.
• Light industry and services: From bottled beverages to construction materials and packaging, a city like Mogadishu—where construction cranes share the skyline with minarets—needs basic manufacturing. Somalia’s entrepreneurs and diaspora already power a vibrant telecoms and mobile money ecosystem; the bottleneck is reliable, affordable electricity and logistics. That’s where German development lenders and private technology firms could bring off-grid and hybrid energy solutions.

The promise—and the friction

Investors will ask the same questions they ask in Addis Ababa or Nairobi, only louder: Can contracts be enforced? Will the rules change halfway through? Are security costs manageable? Somalia has made strides on public financial management and revenue collection, and it has some of the most innovative digital payments in Africa. But businesses still face high power tariffs, uneven infrastructure, and the persistent risk of insurgent violence.

This is where Germany’s toolkit matters. Through entities like KfW and GIZ, Berlin can blend grants, guarantees and technical assistance to de-risk early movers. Export credit insurance—long a quiet enabler of German trade—could help small and mid-sized firms test Somalia’s market without staking the company. And the EU’s Global Gateway, designed to mobilize billions for sustainable infrastructure, offers a framework if Somali institutions can present bankable projects.

A regional chessboard

Somalia isn’t the only country courting German capital. Kenya offers a deeper market and a more developed industrial base. Ethiopia, despite turmoil, is a magnet for manufacturing due to scale. In the Horn of Africa’s corridor politics, ports are power: Berbera in North Western State of Somalia has attracted investment; Djibouti is a logistical hub; Mogadishu is expanding capacity and increasingly efficient. If Somalia can stitch together ports, roads and customs with its East African neighbors, its pitch becomes more compelling: a gateway to the western Indian Ocean trade at competitive cost.

For Berlin, the calculus isn’t only commercial. Germany’s Africa policy emphasizes feminist development, green jobs and governance. Somalia is a proving ground for whether those principles can coexist with the gritty realities of a post-conflict economy. Support that builds local capacity—training fisheries inspectors, digitizing customs, financing women-led cooperatives—can lower risks in ways that glossy investor brochures rarely address.

Reality on the waterfront

Spend a morning at Mogadishu’s fish landing sites and you see the opportunity and the gap. Boats return with yellowfin and skipjack, but there’s often too little ice, too few reliable trucks, and limited processing capacity to move beyond the domestic market. A modern cold store or a EU-standard processing plant sounds straightforward; in practice, it requires steady power, trained technicians, predictable regulation and export certification. German firms know how to do this. The question is whether they can do it in Somalia, profitably and with local ownership.

From intent to impact

Meetings like Monday’s are the easy part. The test will be what follows the German delegation’s visit: pilot projects, financing structures, timelines. Will Berlin match development programs with concrete commercial deals? Will Mogadishu align federal and state authorities around a few priority corridors where firms can operate with fewer surprises? Small wins matter—a functioning quarantine center, a refurbished jetty, a handful of reliable mini-grids can signal that Somalia is not only open for business but ready to keep its promises.

There’s a human timeline here too. A generation of young Somalis has grown up with smartphones and remittance-backed education but with limited formal jobs. Each investment that creates steady work, from a fish filleting line to a feed mill, carries outsized social value. That’s how stability becomes tangible—when households have predictable income and a reason to believe yesterday’s gains won’t evaporate tomorrow.

What to watch next

• The composition of the German delegation and whether it includes private sector players alongside development officials.
• Any movement on risk guarantees or blended finance facilities tailored to Somali projects.
• Concrete steps by Somali authorities to fast-track permits, standardize customs, and enforce predictable rules in key sectors.
• Coordination with EU maritime and governance programs to support fisheries management and coastal security.

Somalia’s pitch to Germany on fisheries, industry and livestock is, at heart, a bid to turn institutional progress into factories, cold rooms and jobs. Germans excel at patient engineering. Somalis excel at improvisation and resilience. If the two can meet in the middle—with rules that hold and returns that justify the risk—Monday’s polite handshake in Mogadishu could be the start of something larger than a diplomatic courtesy call.

By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.