ithin a period of decade the originally humble start of higher education institute has turned into an all–coveted center of education excellence.

Somali Institute of Management and Administration Development (SIMAD) was established in November 1999 to fill the  gab of a higher education institute especially in the business field.

It was first opened in a small four room rent house in Hodan, one of the severely civil-war stricken districts in Mogadishu, Somalia . But now it is resident in a beautiful compus of its own.

Despite the fact that the country was literally in a state of anarchy SIMAD went ahead with its slow but steady process of educating Somali citizens.

It enrolled thousands of students and gave them syllabus ranging from small brush-up courses on Mathematics and English to full-blown courses in Business, Information Technology (IT) and Accounting.

The courses provided lead to vocational certificates, diploma, and bachelors in all the above-mentioned fields.

The courses are all conducted by top talent lectures – local graduates and internationally acclaimed professors. This sheer work accompanied by determination in advancing people already bore sweet fruits: more than 800 hundred students graduated from the institute since its inception. 

 

These graduates already work for the country's giant companies and other privately owned small businesses. Some others also work for the United Nations agencies such as WHO, WFP, UNICEF, and UNHCR.

In the midst of utter destruction of civil war, SIMAD, unlike its competitors in the education sector, invites the international aid agencies, Somali Diaspora, universities and other honorable guests to its beautifully decorated campus to obtain support and recognition for its triumph and leadership in the country’s thriving education business.

Among the most notable guests that visited the institute are:

1. Abdulqasim Salad Hassan, the former Somali president
2. Abdulle Derow Isaq, the former head of Somali parliament   
3. Maxuell Gaylor, UNDP head of Somalia
4. Abdullahi Hashi, Physics Professor      

Equipped with a library of 15,000 book capacity, four computer laboratories, state-of-the-art publishing centre and VSAT dish and five-hundred-guest-capacity meeting hall, SIMAD enjoys a laudable and well-grounded relationship among the public.

The big celebrations, wedding ceremonies and other important events are held in the institute’s East African Meeting Hall which, in turn, promotes its image both locally and internationally.

Consequently, this opens doors to the graduates to work in local enterprises and to be recruited in the global employment areas because of the institute’s socio-political interaction.

From the academic perspective there are 1500 students currently studying at the institute. These students include both regular and part-timers.

As the result of proven curriculum and methodology, there are many Diploma/Bachelor graduates in different fields who already qualified for other higher degrees like Masters in Asia,  Africa,  Europe, and the Americas .

Thanks are partly due to the management elite that set out and run the institute’s strategic policies.

Driven by ambitions and supported by people the institute is now setting its plan on electronic education for the future. With the triumph of technology now visible in every conceivable aspect of life SIMAD is expending its horizon by trying to implement an E-education program – an ambitious project designed to gain a competitive edge in today’s dynamic world. Of course, such project needs a large sum of money and a fast fiber optic network and the institute is trying to attract donors for the investment.

Now the institute acts as a facilitator in many programs sponsored by UNDP such as:

1. CISCO Academy Networking
2. TOEFL
3. Mastering IT
4. Cross Road Cafe (Communicative course in English as second language)
5. Financial Planning

As technology in Africa now in its infancy, such project (E-Learning) would take longer than anticipated but every organized effort will genuinely come back in two fold one day. However, when implemented the students will gain access to virtually any faculty of the institute anytime anywhere no matter how physically separated they and the institute are.

End 

Note: This article was written earlier 2007 but slightly updated, so if you see any inconvenience, for example that the institute is not now settled in its campus, get excused.