Abdullahi getting serious

By Barry Morgan Nairobi

 20 April 2012 05:33 GMT

ALI MOHAMMED Abdullahi, the Somali founder and chief executive of Australian oil services vehicle Amsas Consulting, cuts an ebullient figure on East Africa’s oil circuit, where he has worked for 15 years at the corporate and ­political level.

Having acquired an acreage ­position in southern Somalia, ­Abdullahi is now seeking recognition as a serious regional player, leveraging his political roots in a ­region bedevilled by ethnic and clan rivalry.

Born in 1964 into a well-to-do political family with estates to the south of Mogadishu in Qoryoley, Abdullahi’s early life seemed ­idyllic.

As a youngster he ranged over the huge maize and sesame plantations that his father purchased when serving as local governor.

“I used to walk and walk for hours till I got tired. Myself and the local boys, we would play…

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