Article

While working in the staffing field in 2019, just four years after he graduated from Moorhead High School, Abdishakur Mohamed noticed a disconnect in the labor market. He observed that many businesses were frequently seeking workers but they weren’t connecting with the local New American community, which was full of job seekers.

“You would look around and see hiring signs from local employers and I knew that there were many New Americans who were looking to enter the workforce,” explained Mohamed, who immigrated from Ethiopia in 2014. “There was a big gap between them, whether it was a language barrier or a cultural gap, and the businesses were not reaching these potential workers.”

To help address this need, Mohamed founded his own staffing agency, Soma Employment Solutions, in Moorhead. In its early days, Soma helped place entry-level warehouse workers in the Red River Valley.

“The biggest thing we strive for, even now, is building bridges between employers and New Americans,” said Mohamed. “When you look at the big picture, making this connection is not just helping the New American community; it is building the workforce system in our city and our neighborhoods.”

Soma’s success in Fargo-Moorhead led the business to grow, expanding to place workers into entry and mid-level positions in industries such as transportation, health care and technology. In 2023, Soma became a statewide operation, adding an office in Brooklyn Park to serve the Twin Cities metro. Mohamed also added training and consulting services for employers. These trainings include topics such as how current employees can work effectively with New Americans.

While he oversees a statewide operation, Mohamed still keeps an eye on Moorhead. As both a Spud graduate and an employment placement professional, he is excited by what he sees from Moorhead Area Public Schools in terms of workforce readiness thanks to the MHS Career Academy.

“I think Moorhead High students are graduating ready to take on careers,” noted Mohamed. “The Career Academy, which wasn’t around when I was at Moorhead High, is preparing a lot of these high schoolers for the workforce, teaching them hands-on skills and also emerging technologies like AI.”

Though he graduated six years before the doors opened at the Career Academy, Mohamed still credits his time as a Spud with developing important skills he carried into his professional career.

“I would say Moorhead High was instrumental in developing leadership for me,” said Mohamed. “Meeting students from different backgrounds, becoming aware of other cultures and being involved in the city—these have all been important in my journey to where I am today.”

For his work to create opportunities and connect people to businesses, the City of Moorhead presented Mohamed with the MoorHeart Award in September of 2024.

While Abdishakur’s journey brought him across the world, he found  a calling that impacts people right here in Moorhead because Once a Spud, Always a Spud!