Namibia needs shift in economic sector

NAMIBIA’S natural resources like fish, beef and minerals have not contributed to the wealth of the nation and is left in the hands of a few, which requires a shift towards a “new economic thinking”, Prime Minister Nahas Angula urged.

Speaking on Friday at the business summit of the Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI), which also held its annual general meeting this weekend, Angula said Namibia was a typical example of economic growth without equity. “The reason for this lies in family-owned businesses and multi-national, foreign-owned businesses.Wealth created in Namibia is either exported to benefit shareholders outside the country or is concentrated in a few hands,” the Prime Minister said.”New economic thinking requires relying less on basic raw materials and the hard work of inexpensive human capital, but rather to export value-added products, build a competitive advantage in world markets and have a sound knowledge of what products customers want and adjust to these demands speedily,” Angula told the business summit.The meeting took place under the theme ‘Can entrepreneurs cultivate a competitive advantage for Namibian business?’.The Prime Minister singled out the Witvlei abattoir, which was developing a unique product in the form of veal (meat from hunted game) exclusively for the Norwegian market.In this way, a niche in the meat market was discovered and the Namibian veal products were unique.The NCCI should promote entrepreneurship by doing more market research for its members and product development.Government in turn should provide a conducive macro-economic environment and embrace public-private partnerships.”Often Government blames the ‘greedy’ private sector and the private sector blames an ‘incompetent’ government.The best thing for both sides to do is to engage in non-defensive learning and reasoning.For a healthy competition, Government should not interfere with business decisions, protectionism should be avoided at all costs and subsidies should be kept to a minimum or wholly discouraged,” Angula said.NCCI President Inge Zaamwani said Namibia did not lack good business ideas, but lacked support, especially funding, for such ideas.Lack of skills and school curricula which did not produce school leavers for labour market requirements was another obstacle in the way of robust business growth in all sectors of the economy, Zaamwani pointed out.”We are all polite and speak politically correct, but there are times when we have to talk straight and point out shortcomings and where matters could be improved,” Zaamwani said.The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Vitalis Ankama, told the gathering that the subject ‘entrepreneurship education’ would be introduced at Grades Five and Eight from January next year.”The Ministry is also investigating the possibility to make that subject compulsory at junior secondary level.At senior secondary level, the new subject is incorporated in business studies,” Ankama said.The approximately 150 businesspeople from the formal and informal sectors deliberated on the procurement policies of companies and the need to support small businesses, late payments by Government ministries for work done and the threat posed by foreign builders and traders like the Chinese.”In the construction industry, Chinese companies hardly give local sub-contractors work and in the retail sector they squeeze out local traders with their cheap products,” a businessperson from north-central Namibia criticised.”The reason for this lies in family-owned businesses and multi-national, foreign-owned businesses.Wealth created in Namibia is either exported to benefit shareholders outside the country or is concentrated in a few hands,” the Prime Minister said.”New economic thinking requires relying less on basic raw materials and the hard work of inexpensive human capital, but rather to export value-added products, build a competitive advantage in world markets and have a sound knowledge of what products customers want and adjust to these demands speedily,” Angula told the business summit.The meeting took place under the theme ‘Can entrepreneurs cultivate a competitive advantage for Namibian business?’.The Prime Minister singled out the Witvlei abattoir, which was developing a unique product in the form of veal (meat from hunted game) exclusively for the Norwegian market.In this way, a niche in the meat market was discovered and the Namibian veal products were unique.The NCCI should promote entrepreneurship by doing more market research for its members and product development.Government in turn should provide a conducive macro-economic environment and embrace public-private partnerships.”Often Government blames the ‘greedy’ private sector and the private sector blames an ‘incompetent’ government.The best thing for both sides to do is to engage in non-defensive learning and reasoning.For a healthy competition, Government should not interfere with business decisions, protectionism should be avoided at all costs and subsidies should be kept to a minimum or wholly discouraged,” Angula said.NCCI President Inge Zaamwani said Namibia did not lack good business ideas, but lacked support, especially funding, for such ideas.Lack of skills and school curricula which did not produce school leavers for labour market requirements was another obstacle in the way of robust business growth in all sectors of the economy, Zaamwani pointed out.”We are all polite and speak politically correct, but there are times when we have to talk straight and point out shortcomings and where matters could be improved,” Zaamwani said.The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Vitalis Ankama, told the gathering that the subject ‘entrepreneurship education’ would be introduced at Grades Five and Eight from January next year.”The Ministry is also investigating the possibility to make that subject compulsory at junior secondary level.At senior secondary level, the new subject is incorporated in business studies,” Ankama said.The approximately 150 businesspeople from the formal and informal sectors deliberated on the procurement policies of companies and the need to support small businesses, late payments by Government ministries for work done and the threat posed by foreign builders and traders like the Chinese.”In the construction industry, Chinese companies hardly give local sub-contractors work and in the retail sector they squeeze out local traders with their cheap products,” a businessperson from north-central Namibia criticised.