‘Why import clothes with so many tailors around?’

Namibian entrepreneurs should adopt a culture of resilience and self-reliance.

These are the sentiments of Martin Nankela (30), the chief executive and founder of Cross Branding Investments, the company that has been organising Business Summit Namibia for the past four years.

Nankela also runs a butchery in Windhoek.

“I want to see a lot of value addition to our exports and a law compelling big retailers to source a percentage of their merchandise locally,” he says, adding that imports unnecessarily deplete the country of money and deprive young people of jobs.

“Why do we import clothes when we have so many tailors around, for example?” he asks.

Nankela says he grew up in an entrepreneurial environment and wants to promote this through the summit.

This year, he is hosting the fifth edition of Business Summit Namibia in partnership with FNB and the City of Windhoek, with South African actor and entrepreneur Connie Ferguson as guest speaker.

The event is slated for 5 July.

“Last year we brought in South African entrepreneur, founder and chief executive of Bathu Shoes Theo Baloyi,” Nankela says.

He says his choice of guest speaker is not limited to South Africans.

“We do not bring them in because they are South Africans, but because of the impact they have. We brought Baloyi to promote the narrative of producing our own products to reduce relying on the market for everything.

“Ferguson is an entrepreneur in the creative industry and we want her to inspire the revival of Namibia’s film and arts sector, which is currently struggling,” he says.

Nankela says after last year’s summit, Baloyi opened a sneaker shop at Maerua Mall in Windhoek.

Apart from the guest speaker, other speakers include representatives from FNB Namibia, the City of Windhoek, the Namibia Revenue Agency, the Development Bank of Namibia, the Business and Intellectual Property Authority, as well as the small and medium enterprises (SME) sector.

“In addition we will have exhibition stalls for entrepreneurs to promote their products,” he says.

Nankela says the biggest challenge for budding entrepreneurs in Namibia is access to capital finance.

“Not many people or organisations would trust you with their money,” he says.

He adds that Namibia’s small population often poses a marketing challenge and advises entrepreneurs to expand their scope to the region.

“South Africa, for example, has a population of 64 million compared to three million Namibians, and if I host an event in South Africa, it would be easier to be sold out,” he says.

Nankela warns young entrepreneurs not to expect overnight success.

“One needs to be very patient and shun the idea of instant success as the initial plan may not always work. It will need constant reviewing and readjusting before success comes.”

This approach has helped him open a butchery after “running around with orders”.

Today, the butchery is in the process of establishing a farm in the south to raise its own stock for slaughter.

“We are also building a chicken project and are looking at the whole value chain – from producing to packaging and selling the product. That’s how we’ve grown,” Nankela says.

He says his dream is to become a full-time business person before turning 40.

He aims to expand his business in the next five years to employ about 50 people, up from the current 10.

– email: matthew@namibian.com.na

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