By Frederick Philander MARIENTAL The deputy mayor of Mariental is of the opinion that there are many opportunities in the southern town for discovery and exploring by local business people, rather than for the community to wait for outsiders to do so. Anna Marie /Gorases was last week speaking at the handing over of grants of N$200 000 to a number of small business people, in the community hall at Aimablaagte. “I call on the local community to train their eyes in order to discover these opportunities rather than wait for someone else to come from other towns to discover them for us and then provide us with these services at a price. We need to start making use of our own potential in order to secure freedom and economic independence,” said Gorases. The grants in the form of equipment were handed to about 10 local small business people by regional councillor Barakias Namwandi. “In the past community members received similar assistance, but failed to make a success of their projects, which might have been successful had someone else been given the opportunity. It is imperative that you as recipients of these grants be examples for other potential small and medium enterprises,” the deputy mayor advised and at the same time encouraged the recipients to move up in the business world. “This project is all about economic growth. You need to have definite aims of where your small business would be in the next five years and a clear activity or business plan of how you intend achieving your goals in order to graduate and qualify as a formal business at the end of the day,” she concluded.