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Namibia: SMEs Conference Set for Next Week
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New Era (Windhoek)
2 May 2008
Posted to the web 2 May 2008
Desie Heita
Windhoek
The Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI) is sticking to its tradition of having an annual conference dedicated to address challenges facing the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector.
This year's conference will take place next week and will address the challenges facing SMEs in entering the procurement and tendering market of Government ministries, local governments and large companies in the private sector.
"The NCCI is very concerned about the tender specifications for many Government and private companies' procurement requirements which prohibit SMEs to qualify and successfully bid for the supply of several products and services thereby giving them a clear chance to grow and realise their full potential," said Tarah Shaanika, the Chief Executive Officer of the NCCI.
Shaanika said although many SMEs have built capacity over the years, which enable them to supply reliable products and services to Government at different levels and to the private sector, the SMEs' share in the procurement market remains very small.
This year's conference will be held on May 8 at the Safari Hotel and Conference Centre.
Last year's SME conference concentrated on the elements of enterprise development and a SME tool kit was launched at that conference to bridge the capacity gap in the sector.
Mike Beaurain, the Director and Head Personal and Business Banking at Standard Bank described this year's conference as an attempt to create a platform for the public and private sector to inform and educate the SMEs on the possible business opportunities that exist within the respective industries of the private sector.
Standard Bank Namibia has been the main sponsor for the conference pumping in N$60000 for this year's conference. Other sponsors, Namdeb and Cell One also pumped in N$40000 each, while Bank Windhoek contributed N$20000.
Charity Mwiya, the Operations Manager at NCCI, said the money would be used in part to subsidise the SMEs who would otherwise not be able to afford the registration fee to the conference.
"The rest will be used for logistics and preparation of the conference," said Mwiya.
Beaurain said 62 percent of the Namibian population in the 15 to 19 years age bracket and 55 percent of the population in the of 20 to 24 years age bracket are unemployed. The average Namibian national unemployment rate stands at 35 percent.
"About 20000 youths enter the job market every year competing for roughly 4000 new jobs. The need for employment creation in Namibia is therefore evident," said Beaurain.
"Standard Bank Namibia is proud to have been part and parcel of laying the foundations for small and medium enterprises for a number of years. As responsible corporate citizens, we direct our social investment efforts at tackling the most pressing social and economic problems faced by Namibians," said Beaurain.
On financing, Beaurain said the challenges on traditional financing, lending principles, addressing capacity and skill gaps in the market remain the foremost concern.
Speakers at the conference will include Calle Schlettwein, the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Finance; Brigadier General Rauna Hamata, the Director of Finance in the Ministry of Defence; Getzen Rutjido, the Deputy Director for Administration and Support Services in the Ministry of Education. Other speakers will come from Bank of Namibia, Namibia Wildlife Resorts, Roads Contractor Company and Cell One.
The Swedish Embassy will have its Swedish Trade Counsel present.
Further the SMEs will be exhibiting various products and services. There will be breakaway sessions on specific topics and each SME can choose the topic of interest.
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"We expect Government representatives, financial institutions, SME owners and managers, large business with sizeable procurement budget and other interested parties to attend the conference and debate the issue of procurement and SME participation thereof," said Shaanika.
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