Namibia’s founding president and Team Namibia patron Dr Sam Nujoma has called on local retailers to help promote local products for the benefit of the country’s development.
In his keynote speech at Team Namibia’s annual general meeting in Windhoek on Wednesday evening, Nujoma said that one of the challenges facing the ‘Buy Local’ campaign was “to encourage our local markets to accommodate and provide space in their shelves for the locally made goods so that we can enhance the growth of our local producers and create job opportunities for all our people”.

Also present at the event was Trade and Industry Minister Immanuel Ngatjizeko, who echoed Nujoma saying that local retailers must ensure that Namibian products and services enjoy the same priority as imported goods. Ngatjizeko, who made the welcoming address at the AGM, noted that: “Patriotism in the market place is therefore required in our quest to meet the challenges of Vision 2030.”
The objectives of this national development programme include increasing local production, and creating local and export markets for Namibian manufactured goods and services, in order to stimulate job creation, generate wealth and become a prosperous nation.

The minister also emphasised his ministry’s commitment to Team Namibia and to the cause of supporting local products and services. “My ministry is proud to know that there is commitment from the business sector, and I would therefore like to pledge the support of my ministry to this noble initiative,” he said. “It is important that we as a small country unite and support initiatives that are aimed at the promotion of national interest. My ministry is fully committed to working in partnership with private sector initiatives, which are complimenting our efforts to grow the economy and create jobs.”

The campaign, which was launched in March 2004, aims to promote quality Namibian products, services and destinations under the generic ‘Team Namibia’ brand. Team Namibia is a Section 21 (not for profit) company which was formed under the auspices of the Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI), with the assistance of founding sponsors Ohlthaver & List, Telecom Namibia, Mobile Telecommunications (MTC), Namdeb, First National Bank and Bank Windhoek.

In the past two years, team membership has grown to 420 members, of which 301 are local farmers. Of the remaining 119 members, 25 per cent are goods manufacturers, followed by media and marketing organisations and food producers.

During the AGM, four new members were elected to serve on the board of Team Namibia. The new Team Namibia board members are Yanna Smith (Space magazine), Dixon Norval (re-elected, First National Bank of Namibia), Jerry Muadinohamba (Motor Vehicle Accident Fund) and Albé Botha (PricewaterhouseCoopers). They join 10 existing board members who are either not replaced for the sake of continuity or who were only recently elected.

The existing board members are Tarah Shaanika (current chairperson and chief executive office of the Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry), Jaco Venter (current vice-chairperson and sales director of Plastic Packaging), Martin Schoelling (Joint Consultative Council), Hennie Fourie (Namibia Manufacturers’ Association), Shareen Thude (Namibia Tourism Board), Evilastus Kaaronda (National Union of Namibian Workers), Jerry Elago (Bank Windhoek), Christof Brock (Namibia Agronomic Board) and Albertus Aochamub (Mobile Telecommunications Limited).

The new board will meet shortly to elect a new chairperson and vice-chairperson. The position of the Ministry of Trade and Industry is currently vacant and the board is negotiating with the minister to get representation.

Current chairperson Shaanika said that after two years of laying the foundations for Team Namibia, the organisation was now prepared to implement “concrete projects … that can have a significant impact on the performance of our members”.

“Our mandate will continue to be focused on increasing local production of goods and services for both local and foreign markets. This, we believe, is crucial to our efforts towards job creation and the eradication of poverty,” said Shaanika. “We will intensify our campaign for increasing awareness among Namibian consumers to consume with pride Namibian products and services … it is absolutely important that for our products and services to attract the attention of consumers in foreign markets, they must be consumed by ourselves first.”

A number of strategic partners have recently joined ‘the team’, including the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) and the Joint Consultative Committee (JCC). Nujoma noted that the purpose of including the NUNW was “to rally the workers of Namibia around the goals of government’s efforts to enhance productivity and improve economic development in the country”, while the JCC was involved to promote “the growth of our SMEs to improve their productivity” and to boost their participation in the national economy.

Last week the exclusive Team Namibia Ambassador’s Club was launched, which Shaanika says will make “maximum use of influential Namibian citizens to enhance our message to the consumers”. Team Namibia is proud to have His Excellency, President Hifikepunye Pohamba as the club’s first member.

Team Namibia thanked the outgoing board members, Harald Schutt (Amusha Consultancy), Randall Louw (Namdeb) and Hilda Basson-Namundjebo (PricewaterhouseCoopers), for their valuable contributions, which assisted tremendously in building the organisation.