Meet Abdirahman Abdullahi Abdi

It All Started With Five Minutes

I never imagined that a five-minute subtitling assignment would become the beginning of my professional journey. I was still a secondary school student with basic computer skills, little knowledge of freelancing, and a strong desire to prove myself.

My first assignment involved subtitling a five-minute Somali-to-English recording. I barely slept that night. I listened, translated, checked the subtitles, and reviewed my work repeatedly because I wanted to deliver something accurate.

I knew I would only be paid if the client approved the assignment. When my work was accepted and I received my first payment, I realized that my developing skills could open opportunities far beyond my immediate surroundings.

The Friend Who Opened the First Door

My interest in freelancing began around 2019. When the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted normal school life in 2020, I had more time to explore online work.

My secondary school friend, Abdikhalil Mohamed Ahmed, was already working as a freelance Somali and Swahili translator. I was curious about how he could use language skills and a computer to serve clients remotely.

One day, I asked him whether he could teach me how to do what he was doing. He agreed and introduced me to subtitling, freelance assignments, and practical translation work.

His guidance gave me the opportunity to learn by doing, even though I had no advanced technical knowledge or professional experience.

My First Independent Freelance Client

Finding independent freelance work was more difficult than I expected. I spent considerable time searching for opportunities, approaching clients, and learning what international clients expected.

After unsuccessful attempts and moments of uncertainty, I secured my first independent project involving voice-over work.

I approached the assignment with the same determination I had shown during my first subtitling task. Completing it successfully helped me see freelancing as a serious professional career rather than a temporary activity.

I continued improving my skills in translation, subtitling, transcription, and multilingual communication.

The Beginning of Shufeyr Freelance Agency

As I gained experience, my ambitions began to extend beyond individual freelance assignments.

I knew that many talented African language professionals possessed valuable skills but struggled to access international opportunities. I understood that challenge because I had experienced the difficulty of finding my first client.

In 2022, while beginning my university studies at Mount Kenya University, I started developing the idea of Shufeyr Freelance Agency.

My goal was to create a platform that could connect language professionals, support international projects, and create opportunities for others.

My First Agency Client Arrived After Two Days

Just two days after launching the Shufeyr initiative, I received an inquiry from Daniel Timothy Harry about a UK-related court statement translation project from Somali into English.

The initial assignment developed into a professional relationship lasting approximately eleven months.

This experience strengthened my translation accuracy, confidentiality, client communication, and ability to maintain quality across long-term assignments.

I learned that earning a client's trust was not simply about completing one project successfully. It required reliability, consistency, and professionalism over time.

Formally Establishing Shufeyr

What began as an idea in 2022 continued developing into a professional service initiative.

In 2024, Shufeyr Freelance Agency was formally established, strengthening my commitment to building an organization focused on language services, international collaboration, and professional opportunities.

I was learning not only how to work as a freelancer, but also how to manage relationships, coordinate assignments, and represent a growing business.

Discovering Artificial Intelligence

As the language services industry evolved, I began exploring opportunities involving artificial intelligence.

Projects associated with Appen introduced me to Somali-language content annotation, speech transcription, recognition-output verification, and classification tasks.

These assignments helped me understand how linguistic knowledge contributes to the quality of datasets used by AI systems.

I discovered that effective AI language systems require more than large amounts of data. They need accurate expressions, cultural understanding, and careful human evaluation.

Becoming a Third-Party Linguistic Reviewer

A referral from a client I had worked with on an AI training project opened the door to a Somali third-party linguistic review assignment lasting approximately eight months.

This role required me to evaluate content that had already passed through earlier production and review stages.

I examined grammar, spelling, sentence structure, verb forms, cultural meaning, consistency, and overall naturalness.

The experience taught me to distinguish genuine errors from acceptable language variations and to provide clear, constructive feedback.

It strengthened my professional judgment and confidence in final-stage linguistic review.

International Projects That Strengthened My Experience

As my professional experience grew, I contributed to a range of multilingual and AI-related projects. Each assignment introduced new responsibilities and helped me develop stronger technical and linguistic skills.

Client Recognition and Professional Growth

Since April 2025, I have also worked on a long-term Somali Language Analyst engagement, requiring linguistic accuracy, analytical judgment, and consistent communication.

In September 2025, I received a five-star client review recognizing my work ethic, abilities, and commitment to delivering quality results.

That recognition reminded me of the student who once stayed awake all night completing a five-minute subtitling assignment.

Years later, the same commitment to careful work was helping me build lasting professional relationships.

What Freelancing Has Taught Me

My journey has included difficult assignments, unsuccessful applications, unfamiliar technologies, and moments when I needed to learn new skills quickly.

Translation taught me to preserve meaning. Subtitling and transcription taught me patience and attention to detail. Linguistic quality assurance taught me how to evaluate language critically without losing its natural character.

AI training showed me how human expertise can contribute to technological development, while international clients taught me the importance of communication, confidentiality, consistency, and trust.

From a Personal Journey to a Shared Vision

Today, Shufeyr represents more than a business to me. It represents the opportunities I received, the people who helped me, and the lessons I learned along the way.

Through Shufeyr AI Talent & Data Services, my ambition is to connect skilled African language and data professionals with international organizations working in translation, localization, linguistic quality assurance, AI training, and multilingual technology.

I believe African languages deserve meaningful representation in the global digital economy and that the professionals who understand these languages have an important role in shaping artificial intelligence.

Somewhere today, another young person may be discovering freelancing for the first time. Perhaps all they need is someone willing to teach them and a small opportunity to demonstrate their abilities.

That is part of what inspires me to continue building Shufeyr.