He was raised in Somaliland, before being educated in the UK after winning a World Bank scholarship to go to university here.
“My background gave me my introduction to the money transfer industry, as people in my home town of Hargeisa relied upon money from relatives who were working in the Gulf states.
When I moved to the UK for university I regularly sent money back home, which showed me first hand some of the flaws and limitations of the traditional money transfer company. One such limitation was the need to travel to a physical store and the queuing to make a transfer.
The price of remittances was also very expensive, and I believed something could be done to reduce the cost,” Ismail told us.
Ismail’s World Bank scholarship was awarded so that he could study economics at the University of London, and he went on to complete a PhD at the same institution.
“After completing my PhD, I went on to pursue a career in academia and my interest in remittances led to me working as a researcher in the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex,” he explained.
He later completed an MBA at the London Business School where he began work on a project that would eventually become WorldRemit.
Ismail told us, “My career in academia gave me a deep understanding of many of the issues that surround the money transfer industry. My knowledge led to me becoming a consultant to the United Nations, who were setting up a programme to help remittance firms in East Africa improve their compliance processes.
In 2005 I joined Somalia’s United Nations Development Programme as a staff member, which was very exciting for me, as it was something that had the chance to improve the lives of millions of poor people.”
Ismail is no ordinary entrepreneur, for his current business draws directly from his history.
“My experience with money transfers when I was younger showed me many of the limitations of the bricks-and-mortar remittance companies. My experience at the UN gave me an understanding of building a system that would satisfy strict compliance measures.
Years after the internet had revolutionised other industries, such as travel and shopping, this particular financial service remained largely untouched by the technology revolution. I came to realise that the person who was going to make that happen was me.”
WorldRemit, Ismail told us, has a USP.
“WorldRemit enables customers to send money online by several methods, namely cash pick-up, bank transfer, Mobile Money and airtime top-up.
As an online business, we are able to remove much of the inefficiency and expense associated with the traditional bricks and mortar model of money transfers and provide our customers with increased convenience.
Moreover, as a digital business, we have been able to establish ourselves as leaders in this area and now are able to offer digital remittances to more countries than Western Union and Moneygram.”
And the group has had a great reception so far, by all accounts.
“The response so far has been fantastic, and has enabled us to expand rapidly. In 2014 we increased the number of countries we serve to 50 send and 110 receive countries; we more than doubled our employee head count and we opened an office in the United States.
We are always open to feedback from our customers and are constantly working to make their experience of our service as positive as possible.”
It follows that Ismail has large scale, long term ambitions.
“The ultimate ambition is to build the complete modern remittance company – one that can eventually replace Western Union.
The more immediate focus is on expanding our presence in the United States, through hiring staff there and getting registered in more states.
We are also looking to continue to grow in London, although we are in danger of running out of space in our office soon!”
Ismail wanted to send a special message to readers before finishing the interview.
“I’d like to thank everyone who has sent money using WorldRemit; we are proud to play a part in bringing people all over the world closer together.
For those that haven’t used us before, next time you need to send money overseas we would love you to try the service that is changing money transfers for the better – WorldRemit.”
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The ultimate ambition is to build the complete modern remittance company – one that can eventually replace Western Union.
