STAFF WRITER
President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has called for the expansion of the Ongwediva Annual Trade Fair after 1,417 exhibitors who applied to showcase their goods this year failed to get space.
The figure represents about 75% of the 1,872 applications received for this year’s trade fair.
Speaking at the official opening of the trade fair on Sunday, Nandi-Ndaitwah said the annual event has contributed significantly to Namibia’s economy and continues to grow with each edition.
She said the growing interest from Namibian and regional businesses shows the need to expand the trade fair space.
“Out of 1,872 applications received from exhibitors this year, 1,417 could not be accommodated,” Nandi-Ndaitwah said.
She added that the high number of unsuccessful applications shows that the trade fair has outgrown its current facilities.
“One can conclude that the success of the Ongwediva Trade Fair has outgrown its present facilities. It is therefore important that Ongwediva Town Council, together with the private sector and all relevant stakeholders, needs to work together to mobilize resources for the expansion and continued improvement of the Ongwediva Trade Fair Center,” she said.
The President also welcomed the increasing number of foreign exhibitors at the trade fair, with 36 international exhibitors from South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt, Zimbabwe, Ghana and Botswana taking part this year.
She said the trade fair continues to provide an opportunity for women and youth to showcase their products to a wider audience.
“I have learned that of the 45 exhibitors allocated space this year, 50 percent are women-owned or women-led enterprises, 35 percent are youth-owned or youth-led businesses, and half are showcasing Namibian home-grown products and services, the latter telling us our growth and home strategy is working,” she said.
Nandi-Ndaitwah said Namibia must use such platforms to deepen regional trade and take advantage of opportunities presented by the African Continental Free Trade Area.
“We must use such platforms to deepen regional commerce and take full advantage of the opportunities presented by the African Continental Free Trade Area. Our entrepreneurs must increasingly think regionally, continentally and globally,” she said.
She said Namibia is entering a new chapter of economic opportunity, characterised by new and expanding sectors including oil and gas, renewable energy, green hydrogen, logistics, technology, agriculture, manufacturing and value addition.
“The future we speak about will not build itself. It will require prepared young Namibians who are ready to take their rightful place in our country’s development,” she said.
Nandi-Ndaitwah said job creation remains one of the government’s foremost objectives.
“Job creation remains one of the foremost objectives of our government, and I believe all Namibian people consider the same,” she said.
She said economic growth should be reflected in the lives of ordinary Namibians.
“Our task is to ensure that economic growth is felt not only in statistics, but in households; in the young graduate who finds work, the entrepreneur who gains access to a market, the small and medium business that expands, and the family whose prospects improve because opportunity has reached them,” she said.
Nandi-Ndaitwah underscored her mantra that “We are too few to be poor.”
GOVERNMENT CAPACITY
Independent Patriots for Change Shadow Minister of Trade and International Relations Rodney Cloete said the high number of exhibitors who failed to get space exposes what he called the government’s failure to match its rhetoric with capacity.
“According to reports, 1,872 businesses applied for space, yet only 485 were accommodated. That left 1,417 entrepreneurs, 75.7%, or nearly three out of every four applicants, outside the gate. A terrible failure to provide access to markets desperately needed by our entrepreneurs,” Cloete said.
He said while they support Nandi-Ndaitwah’s call for Namibians to participate in intra-African trade through the continental free trade area, government needs to provide ample space for local businesses to excel.
“A country cannot close that gap by repeating AfCFTA at conferences while its entrepreneurs lack space, its corridor lacks service, and its export basket remains concentrated in raw materials,” Cloete said.
Cloete said government must publish a costed, year-round OATF expansion plan and connect it to export-readiness, standards, finance, digital directories, customs and buyer matchmaking.
He also called for a Northern Corridor plan with freight targets and border arrangements
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