Business

Over the last 10 years, the SME sector has seen a trend of more women taking up opportunities in franchising and this is expected to further increase over the next five years.

Diamond polishing companies currently operating within the soon-to-be-phased-out Export Processing Zone (EPZ) regime, where they enjoy a zero-tax holiday, will be catered for by transitional measures by the which is being finalised by the Ministry of Finance and other relevant government departments.

Different stakeholders in the sphere of labour activities have encouraged Namibia to ratify the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention related to violence and harassment in the world of work in order to address, prevent and subsequently eliminate such practices in the workplace. 

Construction of the N$5.5 billion national oil storage facility at Walvis Bay, which was anticipated to be completed last month, is now at a standstill because of the global outbreak of coronavirus as the main contractors are Chinese who could not return to Namibia for final testing of the facility. 

The Central Procurement Board of Namibia (CPBN) yesterday launched its new corporate identity. Officiating at the occasion, Deputy Minister of Finance, Natangwe Ithete, said that for any business or organisation, a logo is the face of the company and in today’s competitive environment “a company and organisation needs to build strong, positive images and reputation in order to be distinguished from others”. 

The national airline has confirmed a reduction of already at least 24% on its passenger load on the Windhoek to Frankfurt route alone for January and February compared to the same time last year as a direct result of coronavirus fears.

International Women’s Day gives us the opportunity to reflect on the progress we have made in terms of banking innovation towards financial inclusion for women.

FirstRand Namibia Limited yesterday reported results for the six months to 31 December 2019. The results show that for the six-month period the Group’s headline earnings increased 13.3% with a Return on Equity (ROE) of 24.6%.

Last week Nedbank Namibia hosted an information sharing session for local businesses in need of financing specifically aimed at sustainable and green projects. At the event, participants heard firsthand how they could make use of the funding available to green their operations or start a climate-friendly business project.

Over the past 10 plus years the national rail services operator, TransNamib, has incurred losses of more than N$1 billion but these financial misfortunes may soon be turned around as relatively new CEO, Johny Smith, aims to bring the parastatal into profitability within the next two years.