MOGADISHU, Somalia, — Ismail Hashim fled a severe drought in southern Somalia In 2009. He arrived at Badbado camp in Mogadishu, displaced and uncertain of tomorrow.
As a young boy, he faced life in a crowded IDP camp. “We fled with only the clothes on our backs,” he says.
Ismail didn’t give up, despite the hardship. He watched, learned and began thinking of ways to help others through practical, everyday solutions.
Now, over a decade later, he builds cookers with three fire chambers—designed to prepare multiple meals at once, born from years of struggle.
“Life forced me to be creative,” he says, his hands blackened with soot from the stoves. “I had no choice. I had to survive.”
The cookers he builds are popular in the camp and with low-income families. They run on charcoal, are practical, and show his deep understanding of need.
Despite dropping out of school due to financial hardship, Ismail never stopped learning. “I couldn’t pay school fees,” he says. “But I knew I could build something with my hands.”
He focused on developing his skills instead. “I believed in doing something useful, something that could help my people,” he says, adjusting a finished stove with pride.
Today, he mentors and employs other young boys from the camp. “They help with the welding and finishing. If I succeed, they succeed too,” he explains.
He dreams of scaling up his work. “I want to open a company, manufacture gas cookers, and create jobs for many young Somalis,” he says.
But his biggest challenge is access to tools and technology. “I can’t afford advanced equipment from abroad,” Ismail says. “It’s hard to move forward without the right support.”
Still, he remains determined. “If I had the proper machinery, I’d revolutionize the way we cook in Somalia,” he says with quiet conviction.
He says what he needs is not charity, but opportunity. “I don’t want handouts,” he says. “I want support that helps me grow—machines, training, and market access.”
Ismail also calls on Somali youth to think twice before risking their lives trying to reach Europe. “Why flee?” he asks. “This country needs you.”
“I believe in Somalia,” he says. “This land made me. It gave me pain, yes—but also purpose. I’m not going anywhere.”
For Ismail, innovation is not just a skill—it’s survival, it’s resistance, and it’s hope. “If someone invests in me, I’ll become an asset to Somalia.”
From a boy displaced by drought to a self-taught innovator, Ismail’s journey proves that even in the harshest places, talent can rise and hope can grow.
By Abdirisak Mohamud Tuuryare
