Development Bank, NCCI bosses square off

THE heads of the Development Bank of Namibia (DBN) and the Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI) have climbed into the public ring to settle their long-standing differences on the bank’s role in supporting local business.

DBN Chief Executive Officer David Nuyoma finally hit back after NCCI President John Endjala accused the bank of favouring foreign investors at the expense of Namibians in an off-the-cuff speech at Founding President Sam Nujoma’s 80th birthday party on his farm Etunda on Saturday night.’Our decisions and actions are guided by what will be best for Namibia. We are mandated to support local and not foreign businesses and this is what we do,’ Nuyoma said yesterday.The DBN is sometimes criticised for rejecting projects it regards as ‘unrealistic or ill-advised’, Nuyoma said, but added that some of the most skilled analysts and financial minds in Namibia consider all projects and enterprises. The DBN board, consisting of veterans of the business and financial sector, then scrutinises their recommendations and has the final say in the approval.’One of the key considerations, in light of the high degree of impact expected of the DBN, and the level of accountability that the bank has adopted of its own accord, is to ensure that projects are viable,’ he said.The Namibian has reliably learnt that Endjala himself has sought financial assistance from the DBN on more than one occasion and that his applications were denied.’The use of high standards in allocating finance not only ensures that applications are secure, but also that Namibia continues to sustain its own development,’ Nuyoma said.The same standards are applied by the partner banks which reduce the cost of small and medium enterprise (SME) finance with low-cost loans supported by DBN funds and their own mentorship programme, he added.Nuyoma said the impact of a failed project is twofold.’On the one hand, the project promoter who has unrealistic expectations, inevitably leads to bankruptcy with loss of income for all those involved in the project. ‘On the other hand, a failed project wastes national resources. If finance is allocated to a project that fails, this is squandering of a resource which could have been applied to a project with long-term viability – be it in jobs and/or social impact,’ Nuyoma said.Namibia is currently feeling the impact of the global economic downturn, and the DBN is providing for the expectation that donor funds will be reduced as countries apply their funds to redress their own situations, he said.’One of the implications of this is that Namibia must begin to focus with even greater vigour on creation of employment using its own resources. It is not enough just to establish businesses,’ Nuyoma said.’Now, more than ever, those businesses must be ‘good businesses’, not speculative propositions, but well-planned and able to support not just the applicant, but also a workforce, particularly in the long term,’ he said.The DBN recently celebrated its fifth anniversary. It has invested more than N$500 million in various projects across all 13 regions of the country, with 15 000 permanent and temporary jobs created to date.jo-mare@namibian.com.na