- Supported by the Department for International Development (DFID)
- Facilitates investment into the Somaliland, Horn of Africa
- Bonds together investor and community interests
- Relevant to long term quality investment projects
- Operates under World Bank anti-corruption guidelines
The SDC was founded in 2011 and is part of a process that seeks to better integrate the former protectorate Horn region of Africa into the international community. The organisation aims to increase outside investment in Somaliland – and the surrounding regions of the Horn of Africa – by providing a secure, professional and mut
The Founding Board Members of the SDC comprise Jeremy Carver CBE, President of the British branch of the International Law Association; Professor Myles Wickstead CBE, former UK Ambassador to Ethiopia and Independent Vice-Chair of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy; Leoned (Len) Tiahlo, Resources Sector Executive andInvestment Specialist and Dr Rashid Hassan, ex-Somaliland Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. In addition to the four founders, the SDC is supported by its Director Edna Adan Ismail, a UN diplomat, French Legion of Honour recipient and former Foreign Minister of Somaliland. The SDC benefits from their combined knowledge of the economic potential and political climate of Eastern Africa and international law.
The SDC assists in developing and negotiating mutually beneficial contracts between communities and investors, thus supporting the long term sustainability of relationships,transparency of business practices and full accountability for both parties. In so doing, local host communities will be better able to improve their international businesscapacity and increase their choice and access to quality international investors.
Working within local customs and practices, the SDC is structured to employ high standards of disclosure to investors and host communities to ensure that all transactions are competitively priced. The SDC’s Board will oversee transactions and will regularly assess financial, developmental and reputational risks. By applying World Bank anti-corruption guidelines and transactional transparency principles, the SDC provides investors and host communities with a safer platform on which to transact.
“The SDC is an important initiative in opening up investment and trade opportunities into the former protectorate Horn region of Africa,” comments Jeremy Carver. “By facilitating mutually-beneficial agreements, the SDC hopes to play a vital role in encouraging quality inward investment by the international community.”
The former British Protectorate of Somaliland is an area in the Horn of Africa rich in opportunity for investment. The SDC is linked with local communities so as to raise their level of understanding of such foreign inward investment opportunity and the accompanying international business environment.
In this vein, the SDC is addressing the following sectors: the Berbera transit corridor to land-linked Ethiopia, fibre-
