He was born and raised in Mogadishu. He was elected in 2002 to be the Secretary General of the then Somali Journalists Network (SOJON). Under his leadership, the SOJON became an authoritative and strong voice that defends press freedom and rights of media professionals in the war ravaged horn of Africa country. He also headed the successful process of transforming SOJON to a trade union movement called the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) in 2005. In 2016, he was elected to the international executive committee of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).