From Somalia’s polluted streets, an entrepreneur seeks bravery in the corridors of Cop31

There are 75,000 tuk tuks in Mogadishu, spewing choking petrol fumes into the Somali capital’s air, filling its streets with unrelenting noise and driving up carbon emissions.

Only four women are licensed to drive them and one, Fadumo Ahmed, is planning a revolution.

Ahmed (32) and her business partner, Hassan Mumin (31), have set up eBajaaj, a social enterprise that aims to electrify the tuk tuk fleet.

They have 20 converted tuk tuks on the streets, the three-wheeled passenger vehicles stripped of their petrol motors to carry battery packs instead.

Their goal is to convert 5,000 – to start with anyway. “I’m an entrepreneur but also a climate activist,” Ahmed says.

Entrepreneurs need investors and that’s why Ahmed is at Cop31.

She’s trying to get the attention of the many banks, investment houses and financial advisers that circle the corridors, often talking the talk about investing in the green transition but slow to put their money into transformative projects.

“We approached local banks but it’s a new technology in a fragile market,” Mumin says. “The risk is too high for them.”

So here’s their pitch. A tuk tuk driver pays $15 (€13.41) a day to fuel his vehicle and $20 twice a month for an oil change.

“He is going home with $2-3 a day,” says Ahmed. “It’s not enough. People are hungry.”

The $2,500 cost of buying and installing the battery conversion kit for each tuk tuk will be paid by eBajaaj.

It also builds charging depots – simple roadside shelters with solar panels on the roof where drivers can quickly swap their battery for a fully charged replacement stored in a secure locker while empty batteries are charged in just two hours.

The tuk tuk owners pay a subscription of $4 a day to cover the price of charging and a contribution towards the cost of the conversion.

Eventually, those contributions build up and, with savings in running costs, they can pay the price of the conversion kit over time.

“They don’t know much about climate or emissions. They’re concerned about savings and what they can do for their families and that I believe is the biggest benefit from this.”

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There are other benefits less obvious to an outsider.

“The tuk tuks are automatic so it’s easier for women to drive,” says Ahmed.

“Also, Somalia has had civil war and many people have lost their arms, their hands, but this is going to be easy for them to drive too.”

A surprising side effect is an easing of the traffic jams at Mogadishu’s many security checkpoints.

Tuk tuks are regularly checked for weapons and explosives, a task that involves getting the driver out of his seat and the seat lifted. The electric tuk tuks have clear space under the seats so checks are quickly completed.

Ahmed spends a lot of time talking to drivers in person and online, countering claims that the batteries don’t last and the electric tuk tuks can’t be driven in Mogadishu’s sometimes waterlogged streets.

For the record, the batteries last 120km and are waterproof, and Ahmed says she wants to lose the petrol companies millions of dollars.

She and Mumin have been as brave in their personal lives as they are bold in their entrepreneurial endeavours, Ahmed having moved her family and children back to Somalia from Sweden and Mumin from California.

“We want to do something good for our country and for climate,” Ahmed says.

“When we talk to people, they say wow, that’s inspiring. But we need them not to say only wow but to invest in our work too.”

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