Raised by a charitable mother, entrepreneur and student Petrus Hatupopi’s dream was to always make a positive impact in his community, and it is turning into a reality.

Hatupopi is the owner of Pehanana Investment and an Economics student at Unam.
“My mother was always helping needy people with the little she had and we would always share our food with strangers in the community,” explained Hatupopi, adding that he wishes to continue the legacy his mother left.
Since 2016, the 30-year-old philanthropist has been involved in altruistic work, mostly focusing on making a better living for a girl child.

The same year, Hatupopi launched an initiative called ‘My Sisters Pads’ aimed to deliver free sanitary specific for schoolgirls.
“The initiative is part of my company’s social responsibilities. We have schoolgirls especially, in far rural schools using unhygienic products such as toilet papers, newspapers, and clothes.

Some go to the extent of missing classes during such times. This is unacceptable and we must as a nation find a way to make sure every girl child has access to sanitary pads,” he told Youth Corner, adding that his company assists over 1800 young girls across the country, every year.
The humanitarian also has a soup kitchen situated in Otjomuise, Windhoek and this is where they feed children from underprivileged homes.

He said, “I make sure this soup kitchen has food always as it really helps many kids and has become more of their everyday hope. During the lockdown, many families were facing a hard time, and it was very difficult for them to have bread on the table.”

It is for that reason that he donated 500 food parcels to Khomasdal constituency and Ohangwena region through NCCI.
Hatupopi said he is currently busy with a project of building two classrooms at his former school, Ndilula Naikaku Primary School in the Ohangwena region and also gives full sponsorship of school awards to ten schools every year to motivate learners to work hard.

“A better living for all is all I want to see in Namibia, where every community has access to clean water, access to health service, and a better meal for all. I want to see a community where every child has access to education and better education facilities. A community where people don’t need to walk long distances to access basic services. That’s the community I want,” he emphasised.

Hailing from Efidi in the northern part of the country, Hatupopi mentioned that his upbringing shaped his current life.
“I had a tough upbringing. My parents were domestic workers and like any other child, I have to balance between attending school and helping my parents look after livestock. Life became tricky when I lost my father in 1997, I had to do extra work,” he explained, adding that his background pushed him to start volunteering work at Namibia Red Cross society.

Hatupopi is presently on a mission of building a school uniform factory in his region, which he said will only employ young tailors.
-ashikololo@nepc.com.na