By Chris Savage
It is the new year, children are still home for the holidays and parents are being bombarded with demands for new back-to-school stuff: shirts, blazers, dress and sports kits.
These can all be bought through the school, but are usually outrageously priced. Whilst shopping in Ackermans, Jet, Mr Price or even in any of the supermarkets you will see bargains – T-shirts suitable for gym use are only N$20, or trousers and shoes are modestly priced in comparison to the ‘official’ school uniform, salvation is at hand. But how can these be so cheap?
At least part of the answer lies in the use of extremely effective and efficient global supply chains. When Marshall McLuhan coined the term ‘global village’ in 1967, most people saw it as over-exaggeration and wishful thinking.
Now, modern technology in transport and communication has made it a reality. Right here in Namibia we have products from far off exotic places and often at a cost that boggles the mind. The advances in logistics and transportation have enabled products or components to be sourced from anywhere in the world quickly and at very low cost and bring them right here to the Land of the Brave.
These extended supply chains enable us to enjoy a wide variety of low-cost goods, from exotic fruits, flowers and salads to clothing, toys, electrical goods and cars. The cotton for T-shirts is probably produced in the USA, shipped to China to be made into garments and sent to Southern Africa, where retail chains are still able to make a profit.
The above are a very small sample of the many good things made possible by the global supply chains. The benefits claimed include; variety and choice, all-year availability, cost savings, growth of the world economy, development of nations, and raising living standards. The transport and logistics behind the products and goods ending up in the shops right here in Windhoek, Oshakati, Rundu or Swakopmund are never really thought about. But the governments of the producing countries and those that handle the goods along the way reap benefits in terms of trade, employment and profit.
The Namibian government has realized this and they understand that to grow Namibia and to reach the goals we have set ourselves as a nation, we need logistics. Logistics is so much more than getting that competitively priced school T-shirt. It is about driving business that can allow Namibia to develop as an economic force and perhaps provide a trading gateway for the rest of Southern Africa at the same time.
Next time you buy that bargain think of the journey it has made as well as the people that it has touched and think of the economic and development opportunities that Namibia has thanks to the ‘global village’, back-to-school bargains and logistics.
• Chris Savage is the deputy director at the Namibian German Centre for Logistics.