Heinrich Mihe Gaomab II
Namibia, although hugely rich in natural resource endowment is challenged by expanding its industrial capacity in the country. These challenges are soon to be overcome by its policy discourse on green hydrogen and fourth industrialisation revolution (4IR) initiatives.
The Namibian Industrial Development Agency (NIDA) in its asset-rich formation over the years of its predecessors even before independence, has a crucial mandate to lead industrialisation initiatives through the creation of new industries, provision of affordable business premises and creating future work opportunities in technologically enabled and agro-processing oriented value chains.
The mandate of NIDA in terms of its enabling legislation ushers in a new dynamic of the Agency been in a position of tapping into its existing agro and industrial schemes by creating an integrated agro-industrial capacity that can assist through the commercialization of the agricultural sector the establishment of agro-industrial parks with a defined focus on the transformation of agricultural produce and livestock products in the country, thereby contributing to poverty reduction by generating employment and essential income especially for communities where the business infrastructure (sites and premises) are currently residing.
With the overall government transformative agenda to diversify its economy, NIDA is well placed under its public enterprise governance framework from the Ministry of Public Enterprise (MPE) and policy discourse from the Ministry of Industrialisation and Trade (MIT) to actively re-orient its rich asset infrastructure base to create agro-industrial parks given its naturally endowed productive land and historic institutional advantages
NIDA is poised to use the SADC Industrial Upgrading and Modernisation Programme sectors as industrial drivers that include agro-food processing, aquaculture fisheries, aquaponics, mineral beneficiation, and essential goods such as chemicals manufacturing, automotive and digital services.
The global supply-chain disruptions due to Covid-19 can be seen as a window of opportunity for industrialisation in Africa and in particular Namibia. There is an opportunity for import substitution on essential goods where production would be focused on essential goods with a clear export competitiveness goal in smart partnership with the Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB), Team Namibia, Namibia Trade Forum (NTF), Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI) and the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Unit of the Ministry of Finance.
Digitalisation presents further opportunities for NIDA to enable cross-border trade on agro-produce to neighbouring SADC economies and with its improved customs border processes through the Namibia Revenue Agency (NamRA), and digital payments through the payment systems of Bank of Namibia (BON), and increasing manufacturing productivity through a smart private sector engagement.
NIDA can support growth and trade for Namibia as it is on a strategic threshold to achieve this and contribute its part towards 4IR with the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN) in investments in digital skills, internet access with an evolving supportive regulatory framework in cyberspace and innovative renewable technologies spearheaded by the Presidential Delivery Unit (PDU) and the National Planning Commission (NPC).
All of the above can be achieved at scale using the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
NIDA has adequate industrial land available for private sector development. To support growing agro-industries, NIDA has ample hectares of land for innovative investments in the agro-industry and it manages about 280 000 hectares of farmland spread across arable commercial farms and currently harvests grapes, dates, pomegranates, prickly pears and many more.
NIDA manages 148 industrial estates and small and medium enterprise (SME) business parks and with shovel-ready sites, and a trainable and youthful human capital available in Namibia, NIDA is primed to serve the needs of climate-smart agriculture, renewable energy, value-addition and manufacturing clients, investors and promoters and to lead Namibia towards industrialisation.
NIDA is therefore poised to contribute to that role of economic diversification to harness its existing and future agro-industrial portfolio by the creation of the infrastructure required for agro-industrial activities and developing the requisite agro-industrial capacity in terms of its existing value chain, property and industrial sites and premises and leveraging on its local marketing outreach in order to ensure competitiveness, productivity and inclusivity for the surrounding communities starting with its own operations where it is currently located.
The underscoring of a realisation of an agro-industrial park has recently been commissioned in Ethiopia in 2021 with the involvement of the technical support provided by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and funded by the Italian Agency for Development and Cooperation.
The African Development Bank has also been credited widely for supporting agro-industrial parks in African economies through its flagship programme of “Feed Africa” by accelerated industrial financing schemes on the continent. NIDA aims to innovatively take advantage of such continental and global avenues to contribute to the development of the agro-industrial sector and the creation of decent jobs and economic opportunities for Namibians, especially where its sites and premises, agriculture produce and property and small business infrastructure are located.
NIDA will further develop an Enterprise Mapping with the above-mentioned global and continental institutions to ascertain Namibia’s ‘value chain and sectoral linkages and to explore local development finance institutions (DFIs) on industrial financing in Namibia.
NIDA aims to ensure that its project activities will concentrate on increasing private sector involvement in agro-industry, improving food quality, safety and traceability, and promoting social inclusion and environmental sustainability once its strategic blueprint kicks off the ground during the course of the year 2022.
*Heinrich Mihe Gaomab II is the CEO of the Namibian Industrial Development Agency (NIDA).