Adolf Kaure
The Public Enterprises Chief Executive Officer’s Forum held its Public Enterprises Breakfast yesterday in Windhoek to discuss how organisational culture and performance management shape institutional success.
The event, powered by NamibRe, held under the theme: “Leading for excellence – transforming culture and driving performance”, drew several CEOs from various State-Owned Enterprises. Kenyan businessman Allan Kilavuka emphasised how public enterprises in developing countries serve as catalysts for economic growth.
“Governments and public enterprises cannot do it alone. Let us stop being selfish and protectionists because the bigger agenda is nation building and not building other SOEs – that is my challenge,” he noted.
“You cannot build a country if you execute poorly. In this continent, we love to do that. I get very hesitant when I get invited to gatherings like these because if you follow them year-on-year, the agenda is the same, but we never have time to ask what we said last year and what we have done?”
Adding that China’s success in the motor vehicle industry stems from effective implementation.
Also speaking at the occasion, the chairperson of the Public Enterprises CEOs Forum, Fluksmam Samuehl, urged SOEs and private entities to cooperate to enhance Namibia’s economic growth.
“I call upon the increase in direction between the SEO sector and the government as our shareholder to look at low-hanging fruit that will enable our country to move forward with urgency and enable us to meet the targets that we have set for ourselves. We should continue to play a supporting role. Some of these investors may require services from public enterprises,” he said.
According to him, Namibia benefits when the government provides a quality environment for the private sector to grow, attract investment, create youth employment, and drive economic growth. As accounting officers of public enterprises, we hold significant responsibility.
“Therefore, the Namibian nation expects from us to play an important role in national development, facilitate economic growth, ensure quality service delivery for the people of Namibia and implement infrastructure development and create development,” Samuehl said.
The event reflected the solution-oriented spirit of the Public Enterprises CEO’s Forum, emphasising leadership as change, culture as an organisation’s core, and performance as a key metric of effectiveness. It provided a platform for Public Enterprise CEOs to share case studies, exchange strategies, learn from peers, and gain insights from both sectors.
The engagement reflected NamibRe’s legacy and continued commitment to fostering through leadership, inspiring excellence, and enabling actionable learning across Namibia’s leadership landscape.