Somalia: Cabinet endorses Director of Communications Authority

MOGADISHU, Somalia - The Cabinet has unanimously endorsed Abdi Sheik Ahmed for the post of Director-General of the National Communications Authority (NCA) of Somalia, which is established under Somalia’s Communications Law 2017.

Speaking after the endorsement, the minister for Post, Telecom, and Technology, H.E. Abdi Ashur Hassan, thanked the Cabinet for the endorsement of the director who will lead Somalia’s first communications regulator.

“This is another milestone by the Ministry to have the director endorsed in due course because it will bring us closer to the establishment of the regulator,” said the minister.

“When the law was passed in 2017 we promised our commitment to its implementation, and the establishment of NCA is the first step towards that goal,” concluded the minister.

Short profile

Abdi Sheikh is multi-disciplinary technology leader with strong background in all facets of Information and Communication Technologies, particularly in the design and operations of global networks.

For over 23 years he worked for one of the largest Telecommunication companies in the US and the World (Verizon Communications) where he held a number of leadership and senior management positions, including 11 years of managing financial and human resources.

Over the years, Abdi held a number of positions with Verizon Communications progressively assuming more responsibilities ranging from engineering, product/services/business development, managing highly skilled professionals and resources, to overseeing and negotiating multi-million dollar business opportunities.

Currently, he is a Senior ICT Adviser to the Ministry of Post, Telecommunication and Technology of the Federal Government of Somalia, focusing on passage of Somali Communications Act, capacity building for the Ministry, and engagements between the Ministry, development partners, and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

In 2012 Abdi returned to Somalia where he served as a Senior Adviser to two Prime Ministers. In the Office of the Prime Minister, he identified a need for coordinated and coherent capacity development framework and strategy for the Somali state institutions.

Abdi proposed the formation of a national institutional capacity development directorate, which Prime Minister Sa’id established in a Decree. He worked with the World Bank and UNDP to develop a $53-million dollar; multi-year capacity development flagship program aimed at addressing severe capacity constraints in the Somali institutions.

Abdi obtained his undergraduate education in Computer Science from Rust College/University of Houston, Texas with honors (Suma Cum laude) and Master of Science - specialization in Information System and MBA degrees respectively from the University of Denver and the top-ranked business school of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.