Staff Reporter
The Ministry of Industrialisation and Trade spent approximately N$32 million over the last two years to support about 866 entrepreneurs in the country.
This was highlighted by the ministry’s Chief Economist, Nafimane Shipanga, who spoke on behalf of the ministry’s Executive Director (ED), Sikongo Haihambo, at the Know2Grow (K2G) NextGen Entrepreneurs Showcase.
The K2G NextGen Entrepreneurs Showcase aims to connect Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) with each other as well as with Business Support Organisations. The showcase started on 16 November and will end on 19 November. It is taking place in Tsumeb under the theme “Scaling Through Innovation, Value Addition and Co-Operatives”.
According to Shipanga, of the N$32 million, N$1 041 075 was used to support 18 student entrepreneurs with transitory grants, N$3 000 000 was used to support 200 start-ups with Covid-19 support grants and N$5 940 000 was used to support 396 MSMEs with Covid-19 survival grants.
He added that N$13 000 000 was used to support 41 entrepreneurs with the Industrial Upgrading and Modernisation Plan (IUMP) for the Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) trade related facilities, N$8 000 000 was used to support 96 entrepreneurs with Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) impact facilities and N$1 575 000 was used to support 115 EMPRETEC Namibian beneficiaries.
This was done with the support of various stakeholders such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), Startup Namibia, Environmental Investment Fund (EIF) and Standard Bank Namibia, among others.
Besides this, Shipanga said that the ministry introduced multi-stakeholder financial and capacity development platforms that aim to bridge entrepreneurship, social innovation and blended capital to create sustainable social and economic returns. This, he said, forms part of the ministry’s “Growth at Home” strategy that aims to de-risk the investment environment, while offering entrepreneurs the opportunity to unlock private capital for sustainable investments.
Shipanga said that these efforts were made because of the impact that Covid-19 had on entrepreneurs and the economy at large. He added that the ministry is aware that entrepreneurs struggle to access financial support as traditional financial institutions are often reluctant to fund MSMEs. This reluctance, he explained, is due to the perceived risks associated with upcoming entrepreneurs.
“It is therefore a key economic imperative of our times to develop initiatives that promotes entrepreneurial shows of this kind if we are to move our country’s economy from the current depression state. We therefore need to continue establishing cooperation between different stakeholders in fashion that will combine efforts and limited resources to achieve greater national objectives,” Shipanga said.
The need to support MSMEs was further emphasised by the governor of the Oshikoto Region, Penda Ya Ndakolo, who stressed that MSMEs are key contributors to employment creation, income generation and poverty eradication. He said that MSMEs provide employment and income to about 160 000 Namibians and contribute about 12% to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“MSMEs are the backbone of the Namibian economy. Therefore, we need to ensure that their businesses are scaled to continue contributing to the economy,” Ya Ndakolo added.
