Al-Barakat
| Private | |
| Industry | |
| Founded | 1986 |
| Founder | Ahmed Nur Ali Jumale |
| Headquarters | Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
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Al-Barakat, or Al-Barakaat (Arabic: البركات), which means "Blessings" in Arabic, is a group of companies established in 1986 in Somalia. The firm is involved in the modern form of hawala, an informal value transfer system and remittance method. By 2001, Al-Barakat had outlets in 40 countries, and was the country's largest private employer. It handled about $140 million USD a year from the Somali diaspora, and also offered phone and internet services.
After the 9/11 attacks in United States, the US government listed Al-Barakat as a terrorist entity, seized its assets, and detained several people associated with the company. The firm's shut down placed an enormous strain on Somalia's economy, as a majority of residents were dependent on remittances sent by relatives based abroad. In 2012, the US and UN officially removed Al-Barakat from their blacklists, finding that there was no evidence of the company's involvement in funding of any terrorist activities. In 2014, a ceremony was held to mark the relaunching of the firm.
Al-Barakat first began operations in 1986. It rose to prominence after the start of the civil war in Somalia in 1991, when money transfer business, known as hawalas, had become the only way for expat Somalis to send funds to their relatives in the absence of a formal banking system.
Hawalas is an ancient money transfer system, which uses gold, fuel, foodstuffs and electronics as a way of balancing the books between operators (hawaladas) in different nations. Migrant workers can send money home to relatives by depositing money with a local hawalada, who then instructs an agent to hand over the money in the recipient's country of residence.
After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the effects of anti-terrorist financing measures of the US government and other participating countries were disastrous for Al-Barakat.
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