allAfrica.com: Namibia: Our Micro-Economic Climate Suffocates Growth (Page 1 of 3)

How do Namibian firms benefit from budget allocations? I'm raising these issues, because in my view, Namibian companies are being crowded out of the Namibian market by foreign companies who are awash with money, and some of them which are alleged to be enjoying some subsidies from their parent companies and governments of their country of origin.

And while I'm on this point, let me state that I'm not advancing this point from an influence of xenophobia or protectionism, but I'm voicing the concern shared by many struggling Namibian small and medium business men and women, and many workers of Namibia who are feeling the pinch - who are being suffocated by the domination of the Namibian market by foreign multi-nationals and other foreign firms which are taking bread from their mouths, and pushing them (Namibian firms) out of the market.

Some Namibian small and medium companies are increasingly feeling like orphans in the cutthroat competitive global business environment. Our business people are facing tough and unfair competition - on an almost daily basis in all sectors of the economy, therefore we need to start addressing the complex micro-economic bottlenecks and impediments that negatively impact on the expansion and diversification of our economy with the seriousness it deserves.

Not Know Where to Turn

Some business men and women, especially some owners of small and medium companies from across the 13 political regions of Namibia, are expressing concern that they are not receiving a friendly or welcoming reception from some of our public institutions, therefore they do not know where to turn to in order to raise their concerns. In some cases they are seen as troublemakers or complaining for the sake of complaining.

One knows and understands our passion and fixation on trying to attract foreign investors to invest in our market. One is also aware of many generous incentives which in many cases are offered to foreign investors, in some cases which are somewhat ruinous to our emerging economy, other than contributing to its reconstruction.

The Ramatex disaster, the Pidico saga, the Offshore Development Company (ODC) and Social Security financial scandals are some of the recent cases in point, and the list goes on.

The Green Scheme is another money-making (honeymoon scheme) in which some consultants are alleged to be milking (sucking and bleeding) empty our state coffers without showing any concrete results that make an equilibrium or break-even on the invested hundreds of millions of Namibian dollars of taxpayers' money that have been pumped into this project so far.

While one supports our efforts of promoting food security through projects such as the Green Scheme, one only cautions that well intended projects such as the Green Scheme should not turn into holed drums through which our limited financial resources are pumped or drained into wastage, such as the Ramatex case turned out to be to the shock and dismay of the entire nation.

The micro-economic environment in Namibia is increasingly getting harder and harder for the Namibian-owned small and medium businesses on the one hand, and for the workers on the other hand across the various sectors of our economy - from construction, retail, farming, etc.

It is a fact that in many cases, foreign firms which have entered the Namibian market, so-called big investors like Ramatex and Pidico, established themselves in the Namibian market primarily aided by lucrative incentives tantamount to seed capital which are rarely available for native Namibian companies.

Ramatex was given lots of incentives that ran into millions if not billions of Namibia dollars. Perhaps with the exception of companies exploiting business opportunities in finite extractive and sucking industries such as mining, fishing, etc. many companies such as those operating in sectors such as banking, insurance, law, information technology, pharmaceutical, real estate, car dealers, construction, retailing, etc. are principally dependant on Namibia's limited/scarce resources.

Many of these companies hardly bring money here, bringing rather their management cadres. All said and done, what many of these companies do (with the exception of a few) - they harvest and export money to their parent companies in their countries of origin.

Many of them do not invest in Namibia in terms of infrastructure development and expansion of their business operations in the rural areas and depressed parts of our urban centres.

Many of them do not contribute to any research and development (R&D) critical for the diversification of the Namibian economy.

To add insult to injury, only a few of these foreign firms are meaningfully contributing to transfer of skills in real terms. Many of the foreign and local family-owned firms benefiting from Namibian taxpayers' money are not interested in the economic empowerment of the Namibian people.

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