ONGWEDIVA – Former African Union representative to the United States Arikana Chihombori-Quao and her delegation visited Namibia to establish the presence of African Diaspora Development Institute (ADDI) in Namibia.

They were on a mission to promote investment in Namibia by the diaspora.

The highly decorated public speaker who is globally known for powerfully advocating for Africa’s economic emancipation, was welcomed by many as she preached unity, investments, and the rise of Africa to reclaim its position in the world.

During her visit, Chihombori-Quao who is also the founder and president of ADDI, said the institute is designed to mobilise all people of African descent to unite, invest and participate in the building of “the Africa we want”.

“We need to create avenues through which they can invest back home, particularly where they come from,” said Chihombori-Quao.

ADDI development cooperation will focus mainly on agriculture, natural resources extraction, and cross-industry value addition while highlighting the promotion of intra-Africa and diaspora trade and investment promotion.

The ADDI delegation had an extensive programme, which included a visit to the Namibia Diamond Trading Company (NDTC) and Grandview Diamonds, Namibia’s cutting and polishing factory.

They also visited the ADDI-supported poultry project in Eenhana, Ohangwena region.

The poultry farm is one of the two projects that will be implemented in Namibia, after the same projects have already been implemented in Zimbabwe.

The poultry project, which is still in its pilot phase, is expected to be a job creation hub and also yield income that will be invested in various sectors such as health, education, infrastructure, and social programmes in the community.

“Chicken is the most consumed on earth and no other meat can come close. We feel strongly that through poultry farming, we can change our communities one by one,” she said.

The team plans on starting the project with 5 000 chickens, which they plan to see increasing to a capacity of about 500 000 chickens.

“ In Zimbabwe, we are now at 10 000 chicks and we will be doubling the flock, every five to six weeks. The profit margin will be about 90c to $1 per chick, when we get to 50 000 chicks, you can only imagine that profit will be about $40 000 to $50 000 most of that money will be ploughed back into the community to assist in the areas such as healthcare, education, infrastructure, water and sanitation, energy and social programmes,” she further explained.

Chihombori-Quao emphasised that it is past time for Namibia and the African diaspora to reclaim what is rightfully theirs and stop the exploitation of their resources.

“We will look into what the communities need. We are looking at a significant amount of money that will be allocated to various sectors based on what the communities need. You can no longer sit back and complain about what’s wrong with Namibia, but rather you now have an avenue to go and develop your own projects in your own village,” she alluded.

She added that some Namibians will invest in this project but a majority of the people who are going to invest are from all over the world.

The startup’s initial investment of the poultry farm is expected to be about US$50 000 which is equivalent to N$911 500 and the project will be built and run by the community.

“If we start at the grassroots level by helping our people benefit from what they already have, we can see ourselves with measurable results from one year to the other, from one decade to the other and the diaspora is already willing and able to fund these initiatives and many others. There are a lot of opportunities and there are a lot of Africans in the diaspora who are ready to partner, they just don’t know where those opportunities are,” said Chihombori-Quao.

Chihombori-Quao also revealed that there are also plans to establish an ADDI office in Namibia to mobilise and come up with investment opportunities.

Namibian businessman and former cabinet minister Helmut Angula was nominated to be the director of ADDI in Namibia and through his office, entrepreneurs will be able to register their projects and the committee will prioritise them and quarterly present them to the diaspora for investment.

She says capacity building is what Africa needs, and through that, they can continue to build “our Namibia, the Namibia that we want and our Africa, the Africa that we want”.

The ADDI delegation also paid a courtesy visit to Ohangwena governor Walde Ndevashiya, then visited the Oukwanyama and Ondonga palaces before meeting with Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah.

Through her office, Nandi-Ndaitwah pledged to support ADDI and welcomed the initiative in Namibia. “We need to seriously look into the development of our economy in order for us to encourage a common economy in the rural areas. Through that, we can create more jobs, so that we take our people out of poverty. I have been emphasising on the grassroots economy. Little do I know that would be your reason for your visit to Namibia. I am looking forward to seeing this type of programme taking off the ground,” she said ecstatically.

- ashikololo@nepc.com.na