The Namibia postal service company (NamPost) says over 300 000 Namibians have NamPost accounts, showing that Namibians are opting for low-cost banking services.
This was revealed by the company’s chief executive officer, Festus Hangula, yesterday at the handover ceremony of two new NamPost cold chain trucks in Windhoek.
The trucks were donated by the Japanese and French governments and the Universal Postal Union through the Post4Health programme.
Hangula said this shows that NamPost has made a tremendous impact already.
He said more than 130 000 Namibians have insurance through NamPost, while over N$650 million in loans has been disbursed to Namibians at the low-end of the market.
“Thanks to the NamPost subsidiary, PostFin. It can only be concluded that a big percentage gain in financial inclusion for the past 10 years is due to NamPost,” Hangula said.
Hangula said more policy decisions are required to enable Namibians, especially those in remote communities, to benefit from financial offerings and financial inclusion through the postal infrastructure.
“This becomes apparent when one notes that there are 51 towns/villages in Namibia where NamPost is the only financial service provider,” he said.
Hangula said NamPost is one of the few companies that have a wide range of physical infrastructure throughout the country.
According to him, NamPost is a community-based company and forms part of the fabric of the Namibian communities.
NAMPOST GET NEW COLD CHAIN TRUCKS
The donation is a strategic move in the transport sector of Namibia, Hangula said, as “the new trucks are introducing a special delivery format catering for the market requiring transportation of cooled items, especially medicine”.
NamPost is duty bound to transport items from one end of Namibia to another as it services 131 post offices.
Speaking at the same event, deputy minister of health and social services Esther Muinjangue said the ministry has recognised that there have been a number of challenges related to the timely access to medicines and therapeutics due to inadequate transport logistics.
However, Muinjangue said the ministry is constantly working with partners in health to find workable solutions to these challenges.
“I was, therefore, pleased when NamPost announced its willingness and ability to work with the Ministry of Health and Social Services, particularly the Central Medical Stores, to ensure the national availability of critical medicines across the country,” Muinjangue said.
She said the donation of the temperature-controlled trucks would strengthen NamPost’s capacity as a reputable courier.
She said NamPost has been distributing temperature-controlled goods to the ministry for over 20 years.
“These two trucks were sponsored to the value of approximately N$2,4 million in total.”
NAMPOST STARTS E-COMMERCE
NamPost board chairperson Simeon Amunkete said in an effort to connect Namibians from all walks of life to the global village, the company has introduced an e-commerce platform where customers can shop online.
Customers can shop from a range of retail outlets across the globe, transported and delivered via the postal network to the vast network of post office outlets and the customer chooses which post office the goods should be delivered to.
“At NamPost, we pride ourselves in diligently serving the nation and testimony to that is the recognition of the 12th consecutive PMR Diamond Arrow Award in providing reliable courier services to the people of this country,” Amunkete said.
