The government once spoke loudly about creating thousands of jobs. That language has changed.
Today, the talk is about enterprise development, entrepreneurship support and helping Namibians create opportunities for themselves and for others.
It is a necessary shift. But it does not erase the hard facts. Slow economic growth continues to feed unemployment, leaving too many schoolleavers, dropouts, and graduates outside the job market.
That is why it is encouraging to see wealth and job creation occupy a more prominent place on Namibia’s development agenda.
The message is simple: No country builds broad prosperity on salaried employment alone or by expanding its cadre of civil servants.
Countries that have built strong economies did so by creating space for initiative, risk taking and enterprise. Namibia can do the same. But to follow that pathway to economic prosperity there must be national buy-in that entrepreneurship is serious work and not merely a convenient slogan.
It is therefore important that Namibia incorporates entrepreneurship and business studies in the curriculum already from primary school level.
Clubs and societies at schools, universities and vocational training centres will also help young people understand they create opportunities and must not be passively waiting for chances to pass their way.
Public institutions have added to this effort through equipment grants and other support schemes.
Examples are the Development Bank of Namibia’s Good Business Awards that recognise clients who honour their loan commitments, while its innovation awards encourage new and smarter ideas for wealth creation.
Several government ministries now also run business start-up and growth schemes.
The private sector has also supported enterprise development through competitions, grants, mentorship, and coaching.
These efforts matter. They can help grow the economy from the ground up, especially when entry into business by micro, small and medium enterprises become easier and entrepreneurs are given room to survive and expand.
The test, however, is not the number of programmes launched, or winners photographed at award ceremonies.
The real test is whether those interventions create firms that employ people, pay suppliers, serve customers, and survive beyond the first burst of publicity.
Namibia needs entrepreneurs who build institutions, not only applicants who master proposal writing.
But support must not become a culture of entitlement. Enterprise programmes should not reward dependency or create a new class of trophy hunters who move from one grant application to the next without building anything viable.
Trophy hunters are people who purport to be entrepreneurs, speak the language of business, enter funding competitions and chase start-up money, but show little commitment to building sustainable enterprises.
That weakens the purpose of support.
There is a worrying belief among far too many emerging entrepreneurs that government must rescue them whenever weak planning, poor discipline or bad decisions create trouble. That is not how business works.
Of late this crybaby syndrome has come across prominently at consultative sessions with government ministers and regional councils.
Namibia is an open mixed economy. Private enterprise has space to operate, compete and grow, but that freedom comes with responsibility.
Entrepreneurs must understand their markets, manage risk, face competition, and learn from failure.
Support is necessary. It can open doors and strengthen innovative ideas. But it cannot replace preparation, resilience, and hard work.
In business, there is no room for crybabies.
– Danny Meyer is reachable at danny@smecompete.com
