Reflecting on the Lessons in Building, Leading, and Looking Ahead

From COP27 to building a climate institution in Somalia — a personal reflection on entrepreneurship, leadership, institutional foundations, and preparing for an uncertain future.

A few weeks ago, I received an email from a prospective partner within the United Nations system that made me reflect on something I rarely give myself time to appreciate. The sender had looked at when the Institute of Climate and Environment (ICE Institute) was officially launched and compared that date with the breadth of work we are undertaking today. He expressed admiration for our progress and described ICE as the kind of institution his organisation would want to partner with.

It was a brief exchange, but it meant a great deal to me. My thoughts went immediately to the early days: the strategy documents, unanswered emails, funding proposals, countless meetings, and long hours spent building relationships and laying foundations. Much of that work was invisible. There was no guarantee that our ambitions would translate into meaningful results.

Then came 6 November 2026. ICE Institute marked three years since its official launch at SIMAD University. On that very day, I was honoured to receive the University’s Best Director Award 2026.

The coincidence was particularly meaningful. The University that had entrusted me with establishing and leading ICE was now recognising the progress we had made together. It gave me an opportunity to reflect, not simply on our achievements, but on what this journey has taught me about entrepreneurship, leadership, building institutions, and preparing them for an uncertain future.

Nearly four years after accepting this responsibility, I remain convinced that it was one of the best decisions of my professional life. And in many ways, I feel we are only beginning.

Before the institute: Two Weeks That Deepened My Thinking

In November 2022, I travelled to Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, to attend COP27, my first United Nations climate conference. I went there with more questions than answers. For nearly two weeks, I immersed myself in the global climate ecosystem, moving between negotiation spaces, national pavilions, side events, and conversations with policymakers, researchers, diplomats, development practitioners, and climate advocates.

It was an intensive, two-week incubation experience. I wanted to understand how global climate governance worked. Who shaped its agenda? How were decisions negotiated? Where did resources come from? How did institutions establish influence? And, most importantly, how could Somalia contribute more meaningfully to these global conversations?

I approached these questions with the mindset of a social entrepreneur. Since 2014, I had been involved in building social enterprises and initiatives aimed at addressing societal challenges. My experience Afrilabs and SIMAD iLab had further strengthened my interest in innovation, entrepreneurship, team development, and ecosystem building. I had learned that committed people could accomplish extraordinary things with limited resources, provided they had a clear purpose, the right environment, and the determination to act.

But COP27 deepened my appreciation of something else: addressing complex challenges such as climate change requires more than innovative ideas and individual initiatives. It requires institutions capable of generating knowledge, mobilising resources, influencing policy, and sustaining action over time.

The vision behind ICE was already taking shape. Sharm El-Sheikh helped sharpen my understanding of the responsibility ahead. In my earlier reflection, Decoding the COP27, I explored climate finance, adaptation, loss and damage, and the international commitments required to confront the climate crisis. In Learning and Leadership: My 2022 Story, I reflected on my professional growth and the transition towards a new chapter. Rereading those reflections today is fascinating. I recognise the same curiosity, ambition, and sense of purpose. But I also recognise how much I still had to learn.

From Intrapreneurial Ambition to Institutional Responsibility

In January 2023, I assumed responsibility as the founding director of ICE Institute at SIMAD University. It was an exciting opportunity, but also an enormous responsibility. I was moving from building innovation programmes and entrepreneurial initiatives to establishing a research and policy institution with a broader mandate and longer-term ambitions.

My entrepreneurial experience proved valuable. It had taught me to identify opportunities, mobilise people, experiment with ideas, work with limited resources, and turn concepts into action. Yet I quickly discovered that building an institution demanded another level of discipline.

Entrepreneurship often rewards speed, flexibility, and the courage to act before every uncertainty is resolved. Institution-building requires those qualities, but also patience, governance, consistency, and the ability to develop capabilities that endure.

Early on, I focused on setting our institutional agenda, crafting strategic plans, defining research priorities, mobilising resources, building teams, establishing governance arrangements, and developing stakeholder engagement and communication strategies.

Equally important was building our institutional identity. We needed partners, policymakers, researchers, and the wider public to understand who we were, what we stood for, and the value we intended to contribute to Somalia.

I spent considerable time engaging government ministries, departments and agencies, universities, development organisations, international institutions, and potential collaborators. Some conversations opened doors. Others required months of engagement. Some opportunities never materialised. There were difficult decisions about priorities, resources, and how to balance immediate opportunities with longer-term institutional needs.

Looking back, I realise how much of our early progress depended on work that was neither visible nor glamorous. But that work mattered. On 6 November 2023, SIMAD University officially launched ICE Institute. We were not simply introducing another university centre. We were making a long-term commitment to research, innovation, capacity development, and climate-resilient development in Somalia.

Foundation First, Growth Next: My Biggest Lesson

If there is one lesson I carry most strongly from these years, it is this: the formative years of an institution should prioritise building strong foundations, rather than pursuing growth for its own sake.

I often compare the early development of an institution to raising a child. During childhood, we invest considerable attention in care, learning, values, character, health, and development. We understand that these early investments shape a person’s ability to thrive later in life. Institutions are not so different. Their formative years establish the culture, governance, habits, leadership practices, relationships, and operational systems that influence everything that follows.

Yet in entrepreneurship and development, we are often tempted to judge success by how quickly an organisation expands. How many projects has it secured? How large is its budget? How many people does it employ? How many countries or communities does it reach? These are important measures, but they do not necessarily tell us whether an institution is becoming stronger. An organisation can grow rapidly while remaining institutionally fragile. Its activities may expand faster than its management systems, financial controls, leadership capabilities, or organisational culture can support.

This is why I increasingly believe in a foundation-first approach to institution-building. In the early years, leaders must deliberately invest in institutional purpose, capable teams, governance, professional standards, operational systems, knowledge management, and credibility.

These investments rarely generate immediate headlines, but they create the conditions for sustainable growth. This does not mean postponing programmes or partnerships until every institutional system is perfect. We certainly did not do that at ICE. We had to strengthen our foundations while simultaneously delivering results and demonstrating relevance. The distinction is one of priority. We should not confuse being busy with becoming capable, or expanding activities with strengthening an institution.

Looking back, I am increasingly convinced that investing considerable time in ICE’s foundations was one of our most important early decisions. Our task now is to build on those foundations: deepening capabilities, strengthening institutional systems, and expanding our programmes, partnerships, geographical reach, and impact with greater confidence. Growth matters. But what we build underneath that growth matters even more.

The Invisible Work of Building Credibility

Another important lesson has been understanding how institutions earn trust. In the development sector, we often celebrate project launches, grants, partnership agreements, research publications, and international engagements. We rarely discuss the work that makes these achievements possible. Credibility develops through professional conduct, technical competence, accountability, responsiveness, and the consistent delivery of commitments. In ICE’s early days, I was determined that we should become known not simply as another organisation working on climate change, but as a credible Somali institution capable of generating knowledge, convening stakeholders, and delivering meaningful results. That required more than effective communication or networking.

It required understanding partners’ priorities, demonstrating institutional competence, building capable teams, and learning which opportunities genuinely advanced our mission. I have come to appreciate that institutional credibility is cumulative. Every successful assignment, productive collaboration, professional interaction, and fulfilled commitment contributes to the confidence others place in an organisation. There is no shortcut. That is why the recent email from the prospective UN partner stayed with me. It represented something that cannot be secured through a communication strategy alone: confidence earned through demonstrated work.

What Three Years Have Made Possible

When I look at ICE today, I see encouraging progress. What began with a small team, a strategic vision, and an ambitious mandate has developed into a growing institution working across climate research, education, environmental governance, green innovation, policy engagement, and institutional cooperation. In 2025 alone, our institutional impact report documented more than 2,000+ people trained in climate-related knowledge and skills.

Our research activities have expanded, and our programmes have helped young people gain practical knowledge, leadership skills, and opportunities to contribute to climate action. Initiatives such as the Climate Justice Incubator, Green Champions, Climate Action Toolkit, Climate Dictionary, Aaran Podcast, and Doog Debates reflect our commitment to making climate knowledge accessible, practical, and relevant.

We have strengthened our relationships with government institutions, universities, multilateral organisations, development partners, and civil society. Our engagement with regional and global environmental platforms has also created opportunities to bring Somali perspectives into international conversations.

Coordinating the Erasmus+ Renewable Energy Advancement for Inclusive Development (READ) project, involving eight universities across Africa and Europe, represents another important step in our institutional development. Yet the achievements I value most are not necessarily those that attract the greatest public attention. They include watching young professionals develop new capabilities, researchers gain experience, colleagues take greater ownership of their work, and our team become increasingly confident in managing complex assignments.

Building high-performing teams has been one of the most rewarding aspects of this journey. I have learned that bringing talented individuals together is only the beginning. Strong teams require shared purpose, trust, accountability, opportunities for growth, and an environment where people feel responsible for collective results.

My colleagues have also taught me important lessons about leadership: the value of listening, the importance of making room for different perspectives, and the remarkable things people can accomplish when they are trusted with responsibility. As ICE grows, my role is evolving too. I am increasingly focused on strengthening the systems, leadership capabilities, and institutional culture that allow our teams to perform at their best.

This is one of the most satisfying aspects of institution-building: watching people grow alongside the institution.

Why Building Local Institutions Matters

In May 2024, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia published a feature titled Mohamed Okash: Tackling Climate Change in Somalia. The story reflected on my journey through social entrepreneurship, innovation, education, and the emerging work of ICE.

Reading it today reminds me of a conviction that continues to shape my professional work: Somalia needs strong, locally rooted institutions capable of generating knowledge, shaping decisions, mobilising partnerships, and contributing to its development priorities. I have increasingly advocated for institutional capacity development, localisation, dignified livelihoods, and intergenerational leadership as essential elements of climate action.

For me, localisation is not simply about transferring project implementation responsibilities to local organisations. It is about strengthening their capabilities and decision-making power so they can define priorities, generate evidence, mobilise resources, develop solutions, and lead meaningful change.

Somalia’s climate challenges are deeply connected to livelihoods, food security, energy, water, displacement, natural resource governance, and economic development. Responding effectively requires multidisciplinary knowledge, capable institutions, and cooperation across government, academia, business, civil society, and communities.

It also requires bringing generations together. Young people contribute energy, creativity, technological skills, and fresh perspectives. Experienced leaders contribute knowledge, judgment, networks, and institutional memory. We need spaces where these strengths reinforce one another. These convictions are also informing our ambition to develop a climate living lab at ICE, connecting research, geospatial intelligence, innovation, and practical experimentation to support locally relevant climate solutions.

There is much work ahead to realise this vision, but it represents the kind of institutional growth I want us to pursue: growth that deepens our capabilities and increases the practical value of our work.

Looking Ahead: Building a More Resilient Institution

Three years into this journey, I find myself asking a different set of questions. In the beginning, much of my attention was devoted to establishing ICE, developing teams, building credibility, securing partnerships, and creating opportunities. Those responsibilities remain important, but I am increasingly thinking about the institution we need to become over the next five to ten years.

My growing engagement with strategic foresight has sharpened this thinking. We are operating in a world of deepening geopolitical tensions, geoeconomic fragmentation, shrinking development assistance, shifting donor priorities, and renewed political resistance to climate action.

For emerging climate and development institutions, particularly across Africa, these are not distant international developments. They influence the availability of funding, the stability of partnerships, the direction of research agendas, and the opportunities available to institutions working on long-term societal challenges.

I increasingly ask myself: What would happen if major climate funding streams contracted? How would we respond if international development priorities shifted? What capabilities would ICE need to remain relevant under different geopolitical and economic conditions? And perhaps most importantly, how do we strengthen our institution so that its future is not determined primarily by changing donor priorities or external circumstances?

These questions are shaping how I think about ICE’s next stage of development. Strategic foresight is not about predicting the future with certainty. It is about exploring plausible futures, identifying emerging risks and opportunities, challenging assumptions, and making better decisions today.

I want this thinking to become more deeply embedded in how we lead and plan ICE. That means strengthening our institutional resilience through diversified resources and partnerships, sound governance, capable teams, knowledge management, adaptive strategies, and sustainable models of institutional development. It also means exploring opportunities for research, professional training, technical services, and innovation to create lasting institutional value without compromising our public-interest mission.

We must learn to recognise emerging changes before they become crises, while remaining disciplined enough not to chase every new trend or funding opportunity. The challenge is to build an institution with a stable mission and the flexibility to navigate an unstable world.

For me, resilience is not merely the ability to survive funding cuts or disruptions. It is the capacity to learn, adapt, retain essential capabilities, and continue creating value even when circumstances change. If our first challenge was establishing a credible institution, our next is making it stronger, more adaptive, and better prepared for the future. And once again, I find myself returning to the importance of strong foundations.

An Award, an Anniversary, and Renewed Responsibility

Receiving the Best Director Award on the same day ICE marked its third anniversary was a special moment. It reminded me of January 2023, when I first accepted responsibility for establishing and leading this institution, and of the confidence SIMAD University placed in me.

I remain deeply grateful to the Rector and University Senate for their trust, institutional support, and recognition. I am equally grateful to our incredible ICE team and to the members of the Strategic Oversight Committee, Project Committee, and Development Board, with whom I have had the privilege of working throughout this journey.

My appreciation also extends to our researchers, Green Champions, collaborators, partners, and everyone who has contributed to our progress. No institution is built by one person. Behind every achievement are people who share responsibilities, contribute ideas, solve problems, and commit themselves to something larger than their individual interests.

I have always believed that leadership is service and impact. This is the principle I try to carry into every responsibility entrusted to me. The award is meaningful, but I do not see it as a destination. I see it as encouragement to continue raising our standards, investing in our people, strengthening our capabilities, and pursuing greater institutional impact. The honour is personal. The achievement is collective. And the responsibility continues.

Three Years In, and Still Building

When I look back at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh in 2022, I remember a social entrepreneur eager to understand how the global climate ecosystem worked and how Somalia could contribute more meaningfully to it.

Four years later, I remain driven by many of those same questions. But my understanding of leadership and institution-building has evolved considerably. The early years of ICE have taught me patience, discipline, strategic thinking, and the importance of capable teams. They have shown me that institutional credibility is earned through consistent delivery, and that meaningful growth requires strong foundations.

They have also reminded me that institution-building is a continuous process of learning, improving, and adapting. Today, my thinking is increasingly focused on the next chapter of ICE’s development: deepening our institutional capabilities, strengthening our research and innovation, expanding our contribution to Somalia’s climate resilience, and preparing for an uncertain global environment.

I want us to remain ambitious without confusing growth with progress. I want ICE to become more capable, not merely bigger; more resilient, not merely successful; and more influential because of the quality, integrity, and relevance of our work.

Three years into this journey, I remain as committed to ICE’s mission as I was when I accepted the responsibility in January 2023, but with a deeper appreciation of what it takes to build institutions that matter. The first years have taught me the value of strong foundations, capable teams, institutional credibility, and patient leadership. The next chapter challenges us to build on those foundations, grow our capabilities, deepen our impact, and prepare for an increasingly uncertain world.

Receiving the Best Director Award is a meaningful recognition of this journey, but it also renews my responsibility to lead with integrity, purpose, and a commitment to excellence.

Build strong foundations. Grow with purpose. Prepare with foresight.

Three years on, I am proud of what we have built together. And we are only getting started. The mission continues.