By William Mbangula OSHAKATI The President of the Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI) Inge Zaamwani has commended the Ministry of Education for introducing entrepreneurship in the school curriculum next year as a step in the right direction. Zaamwani made these remarks at the historic launching of the Oshana Business Forum on Friday at Ongwediva Trade Fair, where she was the keynote speaker. She said: “Our children must grow up with the knowledge that they can dream as much as they can and nothing will stop them from realising their dreams. We must never stop striving to instil hope in our youth about their own future.” “We must work hard to develop entrepreneurship in our young generation in order to secure a prosperous future for Namibia. Entrepreneurship development must form a major part of our dialogue and our strategies for higher economic growth and poverty eradication,” she said. The Oshana Business Forum, which will remain part and parcel of the NCCI, was created, she said, to be the platform for major stakeholders in business activities in the region to share ideas, experiences, expectations, aspirations, challenges and frustrations with regard to business growth and diversification. She explained that the NCCI intends to use the forum to discuss key strategic issues which matter to the growth and competitiveness of private enterprises in the region and how they can work together as public and private sectors to engineer economic prosperity. She further explained: “It is therefore important that the highest political office in the region, which is eminently represented by the governor, is fully part of this process. Equally, the presence of local authorities in Oshana at this forum will make communication and dialogue easier as we believe that most of the issues, which the Oshana business community would like to see being addressed by this forum, are related to local authorities.” As a matter of urgency, noted the NCCI leader, the newly established Oshana Business Forum must begin to address critical issues that members of the business community are facing. These are, among others, the land questions related to the proclamation of the towns in the regions. She pointed out that it was unfortunate that complaints are still being received about business people in Oshana who have not been able to obtain landownership rights after the proclamation of Oshakati, Ongwediva and Ondangwa. The NCCI also made use of the opportunity to try to improve communication between its local branch and various local authorities. At the same time it held a board meeting here to consider the restructuring of its branches in Oshana, Oshikoto, Ohangwena and Omusati with the view to improve stakeholders’ relations and service delivery to the business community. The occasion was also addressed by FNB Holding’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Vekuii Rukoro who urged the audience to make the forum a major voice of business that policymakers in Windhoek cannot afford to ignore even if they wanted to. Considering that more than half of the population resides in the North, the FNB CEO noted that the local people here are the most entrepreneurial and the biggest go-getters when it comes to business, of all population groups in Namibia. As a result the launching of the Oshana Business Forum has been long overdue. (FNB is the main sponsor of the forum.) Rukoro said: “Let corporate Namibia up North become truly part of the engine of economic growth. A good start will be made if all of us started to insist that all levels of government must faithfully implement the recommendations of the Swakopmund Cabinet Retreat of 2005 and that the President must give a progress report to the nation on a half-yearly basis. “I have no doubt that the moment the business community starts to engage our political leadership in that fashion, our GDP will increase from the current level of 4 percent to a respectable 6 to 7 percent, in order to give Vision 2030 a fair chance of being achieved.” Emotions ran high and resulted in a commotion when an irritated governor Musty Sackey Kayone stood up to object to part of the presentation by FNB economist Martin Mwinga which portrayed his region as economically stagnant compared to Oshana. Apparently Kayone took the matter as a personal attack on him and stood up to challenge the presenter. Mwinga responded to this by explaining that his information was obtained from government documents after thorough research. Governor of Oshana, Clemens Kashuupulwa, who described it as something which will promote a better entrepreneurship mindset in the local business community, welcomed the well-attended event that was also addressed by the secretary to the Tender Board Miriam Onesmus and local businessman Ben Zaaruka. The governor added: “Oshana Regional Council wishes to commend the brain behind the establishment of the Oshana Business Forum and welcomes the initiative to set up such an important business body in the region. Such a body will create a favourable business environment for sharing ideas among the business community.”