Eveline de Klerk

KARIBIB – The Karibib-based Navachab gold mine is ploughing back N$1.5 million into the Karibib district in an effort to uplift and support small and medium entrepreneurs in the area.

The mine on Thursday launched the Golden Egg Initiative that will, during the pilot phase, boost 30 SMEs operating in Karibib, Otjimbingwe and Usakos. Entrepreneurs have to prove through municipal bills that they are indeed residents of those towns and to start applying for the initiative as of 5 May.

Town hall meetings will soon be held with interested SMEs to explain how the process and selection of successful candidates will be applied.

Speaking during the launch of the initiative, managing director of Navachab George Botshiwe said instead of looking at corporate social responsibility, they chose to rather invest in training and business management tools for entrepreneurs.

“We want to make the communities we operate in better, and we can only do that by investing in entrepreneurs at the grassroots level. This is the new way of greater new and better entrepreneurs,” Botshiwe said.

According to him, their previous way of impacting the community was through donations; however, they believe that training and equipment are a new way. He said each SME will get an opportunity to receive funding, training and mentorship as long as their business ideas are bankable.

Also speaking at the launch, Erongo governor Neville Andre said initiatives such as these could be the answer towards addressing unemployment and poverty. According to him, many entrepreneurs do not know how to start their businesses, while those who are running a business are struggling with how to make their businesses grow and be sustainable in terms of access to finance.

“Therefore, we applaud Navachab for this initiative, as it speaks to all areas of entrepreneurship. This will benefit them a great deal in terms of accessing financial literacy and proper mentorship to run their businesses. Meanwhile, Navacab indicated that the programme, if successful, could be extended to the rest of the country.

- edeklerk@nepc.com.na