NovaNam (Pty) Ltd was established in Lüderitz in 1990 with the primary purpose of localising and developing the deep-sea trawl industry in Namibia.
NovaNam has succeeded in an exemplary fashion.
NovaNam is a long-established business enterprise with extensive global reach, with all its products value-added on land in the remote town of Lüderitz, which in turn is distributed to retail and foodservice customers in 11 countries.
This 32-year-old fully vertically integrated fishing business operates in a sector with high barriers to entry from an operational standpoint, owing to the massive capital investment required.
In 2022, in its pursuit of further transformation, NovaNam will be broadening and deepening its Namibian held shareholding, including which of its staff will beneficially hold 15% of the entire Namibian business.
NovaNam catches its principal species, Hake, in the deep seas within the 200 nautical miles of Namibia’s EEZ, where the unpolluted, nutrient-rich water of the cold Benguela Current sweeps up from the Antarctic.
Fishing takes place predominantly 40 to 55 nautical miles from the coastline at depths of up to 400 fathoms, using NovaNam’s own fleet of seven wet fish trawlers and two factory freezer trawlers.
It is an all-year fishery with no seasonality, barring the month of October for the obligatory biological stoppage period, which the company is a strong supporter of.
NovaNam has two onshore processing facilities, which work continuously the entire year around.
The company packs in the internationally renowned seafood brand, Pescanova.
At present, the group in Namibia has over 2 300 employees, of which 1 950 are on land.
NovaNam further catches accompanying species such as monk, kingklip, angelfish, gurnards, jacopever, squid, octopus and ribbonfish, which all also get packed for the markets locally, as well as regionally and internationally.
NovaNam, in conjunction with Nueva Pescanova, aims to be the first company in the sector to use plastic waste collected on beaches and coastal areas and transform it into packaging through an advanced recycling process, preventing it from contaminating seas and oceans, thus giving them a second life.
This project will make it possible to recover around 10 tons of plastic waste, mostly large fragments before they reach the sea because these fragments, broken into smaller fragments, can cause harmful damage to the marine environment and its species.
For this to happen, NovaNam and Nueva Pescanova have joined hands with a leading global company in the chemical industry and a pioneer in the production of certified circular polymers.
With this initiative, NovaNam’s objective will be to help prevent plastic wastage from reaching the marine environment.
NovaNam has set itself a goal to have its packaging made from 100% recyclable material by 2026.
As a seafood company, NovaNam has the responsibility to care for the various ecosystems wherein it operates – at sea and on land.
NovaNam is committed to the sustainability of the business practices to reduce the impact on the environment because it believes that what we enjoy today must also be enjoyed by the future generations of Namibians.
Without a sustainable resource, the company would cease to exist, and the communities and the nation it serves will suffer.
NovaNam strives to do everything possible through its capital, environmental and social investments to play its part in ensuring that this does not happen.
Therefore, NovaNam also has its Private Eco-Label, and why it supports all measures and certifications that ensure it does things responsibly for short- and long-term impact.
The guiding principle of NovaNam’s Corporate Social Responsibility lies ultimately in sustainable value/wealth creation, and there are four pillars around which all its CSR projects are focused – planet, people, product and communities.
By always keeping the company’s stakeholders in mind, the strategy is based primarily on – the reduction of energy consumption and emissions, the contribution to environmental management and fishing efficiency, personal and professional development, health and safety at work, equal opportunities and diversity, the increase of fish consumption, as well as training and the transfer of skills and knowledge.
For NovaNam, education is foundational for development and a key priority area.
By sponsoring and supporting students through – for example, bursaries, scholarships and on-the-job training – NovaNam gives credence to its commitment to social transformation as well as youth empowerment.
By delivering value to and creating wealth for its stakeholders, the company creates opportunities for people to gain a skill, which in turn creates employment opportunities and a talent pipeline in the business and promotes local and young Namibians into higher responsibility roles.
By providing continuous employment and operations, the company makes a difference within its communities by investing in and contributing to the transformation of society and the upliftment of local communities.
Through its operational and supply needs, the company further creates various supplier partner chains by assisting in the development and growth of small to medium-sized businesses, the majority of which are owned by black Namibian shareholders and managed by Namibians.