Jaenique Swartz
Impact Tank project manager Niel Swanepoel has urged the public to be involved in the National Digital Strategy (NDS) that aims to make Namibia a digital country in the next five years.
He said this yesterday during the NDS validation workshop that took place in partnership with the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
“This workshop comes a full circle. We have done our homework, and now we present that final document to the same people as well as new stakeholders. We are ensuring that the ideas we shared resonate with what we previously shared,” he said.
Swanepoel added that the workshop is the final push to put all the building blocks in place to ensure all Namibians have the best opportunities to make the most out of technology and digitalisation, both in their social and professional lives.
Impact Tank is Namibia’s first venture builder and a subsidiary of the main branch in Switzerland. The company places emphasis on reaching sustainable change in the Namibian market, using the most well-designed business models, with the aim of sustainable poverty reduction through social entrepreneurship and market systems development.
In attendance was MICT executive director Audrin Mathe, who said during his welcoming remarks the strategy was a directive from Cabinet, contributing to the gravity of strengthening and improving Namibia’s digital vision. He underlined the importance of having this venture, and to hopefully have successfully finalised the NDS before Independence Day this year. Mathe reiterated the importance for all citizens to be able to read and familiarise themselves with the NDS document.
“This is not only for the ministry, but for the rest of the country. It requires joint efforts,” he said. The ethos to empower Namibians to thrive in a digital era by leveraging digital innovations for national development is a sentiment that remains, and will be emphasised throughout the entire process of bridging the digital divide.
The validation workshop highlighted involving citizen-centric innovation to be commercially sustainable. It moreover sheds light on the dangers women face online, and the organisation’s attempts to strengthen cybersecurity in the country.