Maihapa Ndjavera
A French business delegation from T&T Corporation is on a five-day visit to explore potential industries for investment in Namibia. The delegation is led by Namibia’s ambassador to France, Albertus Aochamub.
“The purpose of bringing T&T Corporation, that does deal with structuring, raising finance, building bridges between French and African businesses is for them to see what Namibia has to offer,” said Aochamub during a factory visit in Windhoek’s northern industry on Tuesday.
T&T Corporation is a specialist Pan-African investment facilitator and management consultancy with a key focus on management consulting, investment communications, summits and events. The corporation assists clients planning to invest or expand into Africa with in-depth market intelligence, country and sector specific perceptions and on the ground know-how on investment opportunities and risks, business development, expansion strategies, policy and regulatory frameworks in various African countries.
Ambassador Aochamub stated that it does not make sense to bring foreign investors and target big projects while the success of the economy lies in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In general, economists agree that SMEs play a key role in global economies by virtue of their contribution to national economic growth and employment.
“SMEs are often run by families, young people and those can multiply and give us a bigger economic growth. With this partnership, SMEs will mobilise French money and resources so that we have a good base for the future of our economy,” added Aochamub.
The visit also aims to make investors comfortable in terms of ease of doing business, repatriation of profits, the safety of families, access to good education and healthcare.
Furthermore, the French delegation also visited the National Housing Enterprise (NHE) this week to look at social housing and discuss how to source additional funding for NHE to be able to deliver on its mandate.
“The first point was the deliverance of housing units. The aim is to be able to start a sort of a fund that enables those at the bottom of our society to afford decent housing thus subsidising the funding model. The other area of target is energy,” Aochamub added.
He continued that in March this year, a focus is scheduled on a Namibian green hydrogen day in Paris: “With this day, we are hoping Namibia’s operators within that space and those that want to join the space will travel. The day will be filled with expectations and is aimed at shaping Namibia”.
The other targeted area the ambassador mentioned is agro-processing, noting that the aim is import substitution especially with agricultural goods where Namibia has natural endowment. He added the discussion will delve into how Namibia can create a value chain through value addition.
Meanwhile, during Tuesday’s factory visits, T&T Corporation board chairperson Toussaint Miesi, said they are in Namibia to explore opportunities and projects their team can partner with to deliver and make things happen.
“We met with public and private companies and we have already identified opportunities such as social housing, solar energy, transport and logistics to build industrial parks. We are keen to build win-win partnerships so that any investment that is done here in Namibia will be beneficial for the community,” explained Miesi.
He added the partnerships under consideration for funding are expected to have a positive effect on job creation, will fight unemployment and poverty and create business opportunities for local entrepreneurs.
“We are also looking to train some locals on advanced technology like cyber security, IT systems and digitalisation. We are looking forward to making these projects work and impact positively the Namibian economy and social welfare,” Miesi concluded.