2015-02-02Staff Report 2 By Obrein Simasiku WINDHOEK - The Namibia Procurement Fund (NamPro) last week handed N$7.8 million as dividends for the 2014 financial year to the Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF), which is an investor in the Nampro Fund. This is the second time that Nampro Fund has lavished millions of dollars on GIPF, a trend that Nampro hopes will continue for the 2015 financial year and beyond. “It gives us the pleasure to affirm to the market, in particular the sceptics around the GIPF Unlisted Investment Programme, that investing in the real economy can be both financially and socially viable,” said Derek Wright, Chairman of Nampro Fund, during the handover. Wright added that he is particularly proud to illustrate that their investment activities, that focus on financing small and medium enterprises (SMEs), can be successfully done and be financially rewarding. Nampro Fund has for the past few years been able to financially support more than 100 Namibian-owned enterprises at a funding value of over N$450 million. Furthermore, he stated that the fund supports SME businesses to fulfil tenders or supply contracts, adding that it has been able to attract more new entrepreneurs while in the process thus creating over 200 new jobs and over 1 000 retainments. However, Wright charged that the Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority (NAMFISA) has denied recognition of Nampro Fund as a fund that can invest in unlisted investments. He argued that NAMFISA has defied the new provisions outlined by Regulation 28 and 29 of the Pension Fund Act, which state that pension funds are required to hold a minimum of 35 percent of their investment in Namibia assets, with a maximum of 3.5 percent in unlisted investment. “It is through this legislation that pension funds are encouraged to invest in the domestic market so as to ensure Namibian savings are utilised to stimulate development, but NAMFISA doesn’t want to approve us (Nampro Fund) to operate under such a legislature. What do they expect us to do and is this the domestic market they are trying to promote,” fumed Wright. Meanwhile, Mihe Gaomab, Chairman of GIPF board of trustees, said GIPF approved an investment policy for unlisted Investment in 2008, with an objective of making meaningful contributions to the economy and the development needs of communities through providing development capital to unlisted sectors with high potential growth. “Therefore, GIPF appointed a number of Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) with specialties in priority areas to act as intermediaries to manage the allocated funds in line with the GIPF objectives. Therefore, Nampro Fund is one of the appointed SPVs to provide short-term working capital facilities and medium-term asset backed financing to SMEs that are awarded by tenders, supplies or other service contracts by reputable entities,” said Gaomab Micro-financing, venture capital, development capital, buy out financing and property investment were among the categories that fall outside of the unlisted investment bounds in terms of Regulation 29. The furious Wright accused NAMFISA of denying the Nampro fund access to these categories. 2015-02-02Staff Report 2
