Hormuud Telecom was founded by Aman Mohamed Abid in december 1988. It currently has1000+ permanent employees and a varying number of temporary staff. The company provides mobile service, landlines and mobile linked internet services.
Stockholders
More than 17999 Somali investors have shares in Hormuud Telecom.
Staff
Hormuud employs more than 20,000 full-time and part-time staff with different specialties. Among these workers are telecommunication engineering, customer service, sales and marketing, and finance specialists. Around 45% of the firm's personnel are engineers.
Transportation
Recently, Hormuud started deploying thousands of three-wheeled motorcycles, known as Bajaaj, as a taxi in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. This has displaced thousands of poor families who owned their Bajaaj for basic livelihood, education for their children, and support extended to families. These families worked twenty-four hours a day...families with three to four adults, including women, who take shifts to meet their basic needs. Now, similar to what the New York City taxi service offered prior to Uber and Lyft, where drivers had to drive eight hours to pay the daily fee for renting a taxi, Hormuud charges these families ⅓ of their income for driving their Bajaaj. Hormuud has taken over almost every sector of the economy, and in doing so destroyed the livelihood of millions of poor families.
Milk
Hormuud has taken over poor families' markets for selling milk from their 1-2 goats or cows. Hormuud works with local governments to put undue restrictions on these families. Families gave up and must sell their milk to Hormuud who then sells in the markets. This is increasing extreme poverty in Somalia.
EVC Plus
EVC Plus was first introduced in 2012, it is a unique option to transfer and receive mobile money, it operate like SMS. According to Ahmed Mohamed Yusuf, CEO, Hormuud Telecom, over 67% of Somalis, especially the most vulnerable communities, use mobile money technology as a sole payment system. Hormuud customers can have as much as $300 in their account at any given time. This amount is considered little by many users but the company says the reason for the $300 limit is for security reason. NGOs or welfare organisation sending cash to Somalis in remote areas are exempted from the $300 limit, Hormuud Telecom has in the past allowed Non-Governmental Organisations responding to crisis like floods with free bulk cash transfer. Mobile Money is widely used in Somalia, data from the World Bank shows that mobile money transfer is crucial in Somali’s economic and infrastructure growth with 155 million transactions worth 2.7 billion dollars reported every month, majority of this transaction happens in EVC plus which dominate the mobile money market in Somalia. In Somalia. 70.2% of mobile money users pay education fees on the platform. 56.4% disburse donations and charity, 28.3% shop online from the platform as 18.0% receive cash transfers from NGOs and another 16.7% paying government taxes from the platforms. EVC Plus allows users to purchase cellphone airtime for themselves or family members, pay water and electricity bills, and transfer money.
How it works
It is easy to use EVC plus, it works like SMS services, Users can access EVC Plus services by dialling #770# from their mobile phone handset and using a secret four digit pin password, customers can choose between seven options. Instant transactions can be made as long as there is enough money in the account of the buyer. All texts go through centrally controlled software that adds or deducts money immediately from your account depending on your activity. Alternatively, customers can quickly send money by dialling *712* mobile number* Amount* and then 4-digits pin.
Hormuud Telecom telecom provides the cheapest 4G mobile internet in Africa and in the Arab world.
Charity
Hormuud has done a lot for Somalia through its charity foundation Hormuud Telecom. During the Somali famine, the company donated over 600,000 dollars to famine relief efforts.
In December 2012, Hormuud launched its Tri-Band 3G service for mobile and internet clients. The first of its kind in the country, this 3G mobile telecommunications technology offers users a faster and more secure connection.
Interconnection
In July 2014, Hormuud Telecom along with NationLink and Somtel signed an interconnection agreement. The cooperative deal will see the firms establish the Somali Telecommunication Company, which will allow their mobile clients to communicate across all three networks.
