Top businessman calls for relaxed legislation

GOVERNMENT should reconsider all legislation that is making it difficult for new businesses to prosper and grow, the Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (NCCI) Business Personality of the Year has said.

Speaking at the NCCI’s gala dinner on Saturday night, Ben Hauwanga, chairman of the BH Group, said incentives should rather be given to those entrepreneurs who are making efforts to do business in the country and create jobs to expand their businesses.’Economic growth will only be possible if there are new businesses created every year, and there is an expansion of existing businesses,’ he said.’Namibia must, therefore, do everything possible which can facilitate the creation of new businesses, and the expansion of existing businesses. We must address the bureaucratic procedures which inhibit business growth in the country,’ Hauwanga said. No economy has managed to flourish in a stringent, bureaucratic environment, he said. Namibia’s laws should therefore be softened in order for the economy to become more competitive, and for businesses to operate without too much hindrance.Hauwanga urged fellow entrepreneurs to take advantage of opportunities in foreign markets, especially Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).’If you are a businessman, you must take risks,’ he said.He said talk that the local market is too small are also unwarranted, as no businessman is restricted to this market only.’Opportunities are out there, and will be taken up by others if we just sit in Namibia and keep on complaining about a small market,’ Hauwanga said. – Nampa