Abdirizak
Mustaf Ahmed

Abdirizak works at the exact intersection Somalia's financial market is built on: conventional regulation and Islamic finance, read as one system — because in Somalia they are.

He holds an LLB with honours in Shari'ah law and an LLM in corporate law from the International Islamic University, Islamabad — a combination that lets him read a Central Bank licensing regulation and a Shari'ah board's fatwa as parts of the same framework. Most of Somalia's financial institutions are Shari'ah-compliant; advice that treats that as an afterthought misreads the market.

Before co-founding Insaaf, he served as Legal Adviser to the Central Bank of Somalia on the IMF-backed currency-reform project — the legal groundwork for reissuing the national currency. Earlier, the federal government engaged him to review the Mogadishu port operator's concession agreement, at the start of the port's modern concession era. He has since advised the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs on labour-migration matters and the Labour Code workstream, and worked with IDLO on strengthening Somali justice institutions against complex crimes.

At Insaaf, Abdirizak leads the financial-services practice and runs the firm's operations. He led the firm's advice to Visa on its Somali market entry — licensing, registration and AML/CFT compliance under laws that were weeks old — and the delivery of regulatory analysis and legal opinions for Capital One. On the disputes side, he has represented clients in cross-border contractual matters, including opposite European counsel.

His practice covers Central Bank licensing across every category the regulator supervises, AML/CFT compliance, Shari'ah-compliant structuring, and the employment and operating law that keeps international institutions compliant on Somali legal rails.

WRITING — SOMALIA LAW BLOG

A licensed Somali partner does not end your licensing analysis → Hiring and contracting in Somalia (with Hamza I. Abdullahi) →

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