By: Dwight Links
Prime Minister Elijah Ngurare recently met with ‘order-with-me’ entrepreneurs to discuss the importance of self-reliance and how Namibia’s business landscape can expand.
Khomas Region governor Sam Nujoma, Finance Minister Erica Shifudah, and Namibia Revenue Authority (NamRA) Commissioner Sam Shivute were also in attendance during the engagement.
According to the government, the MSME sector is viewed as an integral part of any country’s economy.
The government added that the sector is a thriving business environment that requires an enabling ecosystem. That said, officials stressed that sound policies, access to finance and efficient regulation have to be in place.
“We want to hear from you, as this engagement is not our platform. For my generation, when we were in school, there was Order-With-Me back in the day. It came in different formats as opposed today,” Ngurare noted.
Providing a historical background on how entrenched the practice is, the Prime Minister described catalogues from South Africa, delivered through the postal service.
Coupling this description of what was, Ngurare noted that the new aim for Namibia is to find pathways to meeting needs in the country.
“If we can find ways to dress ourselves, we are halfway through self-reliance. If we can find ways to feed ourselves, we are halfway through self-reliance,” he stated.
Ngurare emphasised that self-reliance also has to look into how to manufacture and produce locally.
“If you can design a piece of clothing, and another person grows cotton as the raw material to the fabric, I will be convinced to buy local before buying from outside Namibia,” remarked Ngurare.
Shafudah shared that she makes use of the Order-With-Me business community. According to the minister, the main aim of the government meeting with the MSME community was to hear about the challenges the entrepreneurs have with regulations, and impacts of laws and actions on them.
Namibia aims to grow its secondary industries which include refinement, processing or manufacturing from 63% to 75% at the end of 2030.
Another aim is to increase the amount of manufactured products to reach a total export volume of 60%.
According to the NDP 6, Namibiaʼs economic growth is characterised as slow, volatile, and non-inclusive.
“The countryʼs economic growth averaged 0.6% over the NDP 5 period, far below the NDP 5 target of 6.2%. The economic structure has been rigid and remained almost the same over a long period,” outlines NDP 6.
This means that the share contribution of industries to the overall economy were as follows: primary industries were 15.5% (2017) and 22.2%(2023); secondary industries were 17.9% (2017) and 15.6% (2023); and tertiary industries were 58.6% (2017) and 53.4% (2023).
“This situation is far from the desired economic state as envisaged in Vision 2030 where primary industries are to contribute 10%,secondary industries 42%, and tertiary industries 48%,” the document outlines.
NDP 6 notes that exclusiveness in the economy stems from high levels of unemployment estimated at 36%, poverty at 28.2% in 2023, while multidimensional inequality stands at 43% of the population.
The government confirmed that approximately 4,000 Order-With-Me entrepreneurs are registered with the state.
