The Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB), says projects with a combined value of N$28 billion are now classified as capital deployed.
This means investors for the projects have started acquiring land and assets to bring these projects to fruition.
This exciting news was shared by NIPDB’s communications manager Catherine Shipushu while responding to questions from this publication.
The current value of potential investments in the pipeline now stands at N$203 billion.
“In the context of the unpredictable nature of investment promotion, we refer to potential investments because of an accepted risk that some projects may not materialise due to various factors. The investment pipeline is divided into four segments – leads, final investment decision, capital deployed and finally, the operations of businesses,” Shipushu stated.
The NIPDB is the national body tasked with public and private sector collaboration to ensure and promote a national business-conducive climate, and to attract investment.
It was established to support government efforts to drive the country’s diversification strategy and inclusive private sector-led economic growth, among others, through leveraging investments by local and foreign nationals, as well as coordinating MSME activities across all the levers of the domestic economy.
“Our efforts on economic diversification are focused in drawing investments into non-traditional sector,s including global and business services, technology and manufacturing in order to reduce heavy dependence on primary sectors such as mining, tourism and agriculture. Additionally, attracting sustainable investments is directly linked to infrastructure development and creating quality jobs for Namibians,” Shipushu added.
Namibia, as an emerging market, faces competition from nearly 200 countries for attracting investment. To differentiate itself as a viable destination, Namibia must maintain a consistent global presence and market its value proposition on various platforms and strategic locations. Awareness creation is the first step in investment promotion.
Challenges
Shipushu also acknowledged challenges and constraints that require urgent attention in order to improve Namibia’s competitiveness as an investment destination.
In the absence of an incentive regime, she noted Namibia will struggle to attract investors in labour-intensive industries not dependent on natural resources or geographic location such as manufacturing, business process outsourcing and other service sectors with export focus.
“We have seen many potential investors in these sectors. However, converting them from lead to final investment decision is a big challenge,” Shipushu said.
Besides policy, some of the challenges NIPDB is grappling with are related to population and market size, which she said may reduce Namibia’s attractiveness to investors. This is why Namibia is positioned as an export play, encouraging investors to set up businesses here, and then leverage the world-class port and excellent road infrastructure to export to neighbouring countries, and beyond.
“However, we must recognise that our transport infrastructure is limited, particularly with regards to air and rail connectivity to neighbouring landlocked countries. This is a situation, which if not addressed, may hinder investment in some sectors. Another key challenge is access to land. Most investors require land to set up projects, and the shortage or challenges relating to access to land causes frustrations that negatively impact the ease of doing business in the country,” she stated.
The NIPDB spokesperson also revealed that discussions are still ongoing on how government can establish a grievance-solving mechanism to support settlement of challenges raised by or against investors. This mechanism would be visited before disputes escalate to court level.
Despite these challenges, the Bank of Namibia stated that Namibia recorded foreign direct investment (FDI) totalling N$73 billion between 2021 and 2023.
Of that amount only N$33 billion or 45% is attributable to investments pertaining to oil and gas activities.