Namibia has been ranked first in Africa and second overall in the 2025 reading of the Greenfield FDI Performance Index. Greenfield investments are described as a form of foreign direct investment (FDI) where a parent company starts a new venture in a foreign country by constructing new operational facilities from the ground up.

In this specific investment category, Namibia has moved up 10 places from the last year, outperforming its due portion of FDI projects by almost eight times. The impressive feat in attracting foreign investment was first shared by the international investment publication, FDI Intelligence. 

“Namibia has once again punched above her weight and emerged as first in Africa and second overall in the 2025 ranking of the Greenfield FDI Performance Index, FDI Intelligence announced this morning,” commented Catherine Shipushu, spokesperson of the Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB). 

The Greenfield FDI Performance Index measures how effectively a country attracts greenfield FDI projects based on economic size. This year, Namibia moved up 10 places from the previous year to claim the number one position on the continent. 

Shipushu attributed Namibia’s excellent performance to recent offshore oil discoveries that dramatically changed the country’s economic trajectory. 

Oil fields in Namibia’s offshore Orange Basin (where Total and Shell drilled multiple exploratory wells) hold an estimated 11 billion barrels of light oil and 2.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves, according to the US International Trade Administration. These figures put Namibia’s reserves on par with those of frontier oil sensation Guyana. If realised, then these hydrocarbon resources have the potential to double Namibia’s gross domestic product within the next few years. 

“Beyond the extraction of natural resources in mining and oil and gas, the country has been able to diversify foreign investment inflows into sustainable energy, as well as manufacturing, notably Coca-Cola Beverages Africa’s US$50 million commitment to install a new bottling line and to develop a water treatment plant. This is a significant achievement for Namibia, which highlights that the country’s collaborative efforts to improve the ease of doing business and create a conducive environment for investment is bearing fruit,” Shipushu added. 

“Stability, rule of law, including an independent judiciary, and openness to investment have all been conducive to attracting foreign investment to the country,” said Nangula Uaandja, CEO of the NIPDB. 

“When we were created in 2021, we set off to leverage investment promotion and small businesses to fast-track employment. We have two main roles,” Uaandja added.

“First, we have to make sure the labour force meets the needs of the economy, which also means making sure those needs are known and communicated to the universities. Secondly, we have to bring small businesses into the value chain. With regards to this latter issue, we have already created a database of Namibian small and medium-sized enterprises so that every investor that comes in can connect with local supplies.” 

“While Namibia’s economy continues to expand, mainly thanks to foreign investment in its mineral wealth, job-rich private sector-led growth has remained elusive,” a recent International Monetary Fund report reads.