Dr Raimo Ndapewa Naanda
Allow me to commend government in promoting technical vocational education and training in Namibia.
Government adopted a revised TVET Policy during 2021. If implemented to the letter and spirit, Namibia will have one of the best TVET systems in the world.
I would also want to applaud employers for contributing to the Vocational Education and Training Levy (VET Levy). The contribution to the VET Levy has ensured sufficient funding to improve TVET delivery in the country.
In recent years, TVET in Namibia was gaining the prominence it deserves, and is considered an equally important education stream, just like general and academic
education. The Unesco definition states that TVET refers to “aspects of the educational process involving, in addition
to general education, the study of technologies and related sciences, and the acquisition of practical skills, attitudes, understanding and knowledge relating to occupants in various sectors of economic and social life”.
When one considers the importance of TVET, the following comes to mind: it is treated an as effective tool for poverty eradication; it is important in many ways; TVET empowers people to develop their full capacities and to seize employment and social opportunities;
TVET raises productivity, both of workers and of enterprises;
Productivity increased in industry contributes to boosting future innovation and development;
Profit increased in industry;
Encourages both domestic
and foreign investment, and thus job growth, lowering unemployment and under-employment;
Expands labour market opportunities, and reduces social inequalities.
The Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) recently announced the preliminary census results. It is estimated that the youth age below 35 years is around 71.1% of the population. The youth unemployment rate in Namibia is currently estimated at around 38.41%.
With such growing figures of the youth and the high youth unemployment rate in the country, TVET is one of the measures that could provide
hope to the youth. All over Namibia, the youth is calling for job opportunities, and not useless speeches.
The question to be asked is: what should be done to create employment opportunities for the youth? For me, TVET is one such solution.
Our policymakers are preaching for the youth to create jobs for themselves. TVET graduates are encouraged to be job-creators, as opposed to job- seekers.
One wonders as to whether people understand what it takes to start a business to provide employment opportunities.
According to the latest World Bank annual rankings on the ease to conduct business, Namibia ranked 104th among 190 economies in the ease of doing business.
The rank of Namibia improved to 104th in 2019 from 107th in 2018. Ease of Doing Business in Namibia averaged 91.17 from 2008 until 2019, reaching an all-time high of 108.00 in 2016, and a record low of 54.00 in 2008.
What does the ranking tells us? In simplistic terms, it tells us that it is not easy to conduct business in Namibia. What one needs to understand are the barriers to conduct because in Namibia, which we will unpack a bit later.
Today, it is estimated that there are over 34 000 trainees registered in the TVET sector in the country. One wonders where these trainees disappear to after graduating from TVET centres. What is clear is that the economy cannot absorb even 10% of such graduates.
This is an unfortunate situation, which let many of them to join the unemployed youth on the street.
What is worrying is the fact that many of these graduates are empowered with entrepre-neurial skills, but the challenge remains how to start their businesses.
Imagine what could happen in this country if only 50% of graduates from our institutions of higher learning could start a small business.
Speaking to some TVET graduates on the barriers to start their own businesses, the following is what some
indicated. All graduates indicated that finance was the biggest challenge. Some indicated inadequate training for business start-ups. Some were saying government regulations are not promoting business start-up.
Crime, infrastructure, markets as well as technology were also some factors hampering them to start their businesses.
In supporting graduates to start their businesses, the latter provided some of the following recommendations, which collaborated with study findings conducted by Cyril Ogbokor and Eslon Ngeendepi:
There is a need to identify and develop appropriate financing models for SMEs in Namibia.
In this regard, the govern-ment needs to establish friendly business loaning systems, and this should include low interest rate charges to ensure continuity of the businesses.
The need for a simplified business registration process which can lead to an increase in the number of businesses registered in Namibia, cannot be over-emphasised.
Government and the private sector will need to come together to address the SMEs needs, especially their financial needs, in a more transparent and robust manner.
In this regard, the SME Bank that will be operational in due course is highly commendable.
Establish physical infrastructure to provide an enabling environment for production and trading by SMEs.
Management training and capacity- building activities should be a continuous process for SMEs.
There is a need for an SME information centre to be established, specifically to provide information to the SMEs on developments relating to market trends, latest developments, and assist in linking SME operators to service providers at affordable rates.
The majority of workers in the informal economy fall in the youth category. Thus, it is crucial that government integrates informal economy issues into the overall youth development issues, rather than isolating the youth and the informal economy.
Government can support the SME sector by making sure that a substantial percentage of government procurement is spent on local small enterprises rather than supporting foreign businesses, as it has done in the past.
Government also needs to promote employment within the formal sector by ensuring the use of more labour- intensive works, promoting the manufacturing sector, regulating the formal sector to level the playing field and restrict competition, which in turn calls for the sector to demand highly- skilled labours.
Government participation in the sector is of utmost importance, as it will boost support for the SMEs. With the right support, informal enterprises could be turned into formal businesses.
With the most-talked-about emerging economy opportu-nities such as green hydrogen and oil and gas discoveries, it would be expected that there will be many spinoffs for aspiring entrepreneurs to benefit, only if measures are put in place to ease the conduct of business in this country. Poverty in this country can only be alleviated by creating employment opportunities. Let us walk the talk, if we are to make a difference in this country.
*Dr Raimo Ndapewa Naanda is a retired TVET expert.