Nujoma calls for new era in industrialisation

FOUNDING President Sam Nujoma has called on the Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI), as the premier voice and guiding force of the business fraternity in Namibia, to channel the energies of all businesses into the great goal of creating an economy whose benefits could be shared by all Namibians.

All Namibians should speed up the economic growth of the country and ensure that the benefits that accrue from this growth are shared by everybody, said at the fundraising gala dinner of the NCCI northern branch at Ongwediva last week.Nujoma said despite the achievements made by Namibia in this regard, there are still numerous challenges that can only been overcome if every Namibian does his part. This will require all Namibians to take account of the country’s natural endowments, as well as building on and expanding existing capacity in manufacturing and services, Nujoma said.Namibia has to usher in an era of industrialisation and development that should not only see downstream and upstream beneficiation of Namibia’s mineral wealth, but also the expansion of the manufacturing sector through localisation and sector strategies, he said.He also called on Namibians to ensure food security for themselves, because a nation can only be truly independent when it can produce its own food. He said Government has prioritised the development of agriculture by funding the development of horticultural projects, improved crop production, livestock farming, improvement of animals health and the expansion of rural water supply as well as ensured the growth of agro-processing, land reform and rural development to alleviate rural poverty. ‘ We should remain committed to the mixed economy with other forms of social ownership co-existing with a vibrant private sector in order to create employment opportunities which will lead to significant poverty reduction,’ Nujoma said.Government will continue to support SMEs he said. An amount of N$110 million has been allocated for the SMEs and Entrepreneurship Development Programme, while technology centres , to facilitate technical skills and technology transfer to local entrepreneurs, have been set up. Nujoma said progress has been made to establish an SME Bank that will provide capital to entrepreneurs in the SME sector and that a building was purchased in this purpose that is now under renovation.