I AM convinced that the true wealth of Namibia does not lie in the newly discovered oil deposits, diamond, gold or silver but in Namibia's Vision 2030. While wealth that can be extracted from oil and minerals gets depleted over time, and is not enough for everyone in the country, the amount of wealth unexploited in Vision 2030 cannot be depleted and is enough for all current and future generations. Over the past years I have discovered huge and untapped wealth trapped in Namibia's Vision 2030 waiting to be unlocked by Namibians themselves. When I decided to venture into business four years ago, I decided to focus my business on taking advantage of business opportunities provided for in Vision 2030, and the strategy has worked for me. To succeed in exploiting opportunities in Vision 2030, you need to follow a process of transforming the invisible into the visible. In this and the coming articles, I will share with you how you can unleash the wealth potential hidden in Namibia's Vision 2030, so I invite you to sit, relax and enjoy the reading.

Why Vision 2030

Namibia's long-term vision as enshrined in the Vision 2030 document is to transform the country from its current status into a newly industrialized and prosperous country. Vision 2030 promises a country with very low unemployment, peace, happy families, highly educated and skilled citizens and very rich and successful people. What this vision therefore aims at is to empower its citizens, by giving them education, skills, improved health, affordable housing, quality water and making them prosperous. Vision 2030 is not for lazy people but is meant to give you the knowledge, tools and resources to go out there and create wealth for yourself and others. Vision 2030 invites you to bring your business proposal and innovative solutions to government, and government in turn promises to be your client and make you and the people you employ rich. Below are some of the priority sectors in Vision 2030 and the opportunities that you can partake in. This week we focus on the information and communication technology (ICT) and housing sectors where many Namibians especially the youth can exploit opportunities.

Opportunities in Namibia's ICT Sector

Namibia wants to become a knowledge economy by 2030. The country will implement strategies and flagship projects that will exploit knowledge in science, communication and technology in order to function more efficiently and improve social welfare. The main goal of government is to have a fully developed national ICT strategy with sufficient funds allocated to support local ICT production and ICT training and education, resulting in a significant increase in the use of ICTs in Namibia. On the way to realize Vision 2030, government will implement the following projects that you can translate into business opportunities:

- Small companies (SMEs) will be financially and technically supported by government to assemble PCs and ICT equipment in Namibia.

- Government will support Namibian companies specialized in hardware design in conjunction with mechatronics.

- Namibian entrepreneurs in the areas of ICT will be financially supported by government to produce ICT products.

- Government will support the establishment of a University of Applied Science and Technology to support ICT.

- Government will support the establishment of computer science, virtual internet based-training facilities and electronic engineering education centres across the country.

- Government will support Namibian companies, so that by 2030 Namibia becomes a major net exporter of hard and software to global markets.

- Government will invest and support the establishment of active tele-centres in rural centres in Namibia.

- Government will financially support IT training from pre-primary education in both rural and urban areas.

- By 2030, Namibian ICT experts are working not only in Namibia but in neighbouring African countries and the global markets.

- Wireless high-speed networks are implemented in all large cities in Namibia.

- Government will invest and increase its support for ICT/internet access centres in rural areas.

- By 2030, the ICT sector is economically the most important sector in Namibia.

- Namibian-based ICT service companies are competitive players on international markets.

Twelves years in full swing of implementation of Vision 2030 programmes, are you actively participating in taking advantage of opportunities in the ICT sector? If not, get ready and partake in one of the abovementioned opportunities.

Opportunities in Namibia's Housing Sector

Another priority sector in Vision 2030 is the provision of housing. In 2000 at the launch of Vision 2030, the Namibian Government estimated the housing backlog of 80 000 houses, and estimated that to meet this housing need by the year 2030, Namibia needs to build a minimum of 3 000 each year. To meet the housing needs, government invited the participation of the private sector to boost the supply of sustainable housing. The following projects were to be implemented during Vision 2030 to ensure the delivery of quality and affordable housing in Namibia:

- Government to put in place Revolving Credit Funds with all local authorities and regional councils that will support financing of housing initiatives.

- Government to support entrepreneurs and private sector initiatives in developing innovative housing financing schemes.

- GRN to financially support town councils and municipalities to deliver serviced land for purposes of housing construction.

- All regional and local authorities in Namibia to be capacited and supported for effective urban and town planning.

- GRN to provide more financial resources to help NHE and Build Together develop plots and build more affordable houses.

- Government to support the creation of a secondary market in residential housing markets through mortgage securitization.

It is not government who must initiate and implement all these housing programmes, but entrepreneurs and the private business sector are expected to come with innovative solutions. In 2009, I saw an opportunity to design a housing financing product in line with Vision 2030, that I believed will help close the funding gap in the housing value chain. I developed and presented a mortgage securitization product to the Namibian Government through the line ministry to support the creation of a secondary market in the residential housing market as articulated in Vision 2030. Although the line ministry was not ready at the time of my proposal, I continued selling the idea to different government officials and institutions in the country, and finally my efforts paid off in 2011 when a government owned institution who wanted to support the realization of Vision 2030, bought into my idea and committed to provide funding for full implementation of my proposal. It is possible that your proposal will be dismissed by one government institution, but remember the government sector is big, so continue selling your ideas to other layers of government, and before you finish all the layers of government, someone will provide a platform for you to present your ideas to people in government who have the interest of Namibia above their personal interest. The truth is that without linking my business to priorities in Vision 2030, I would have closed doors years ago, but thanks to Vision 2030 my business venture continues to grow and create employment and growth opportunities for others. Visit this column next week as we continue to bring you Vision 203 wealth creation opportunities.

- Martin Mwinga works for First Capital Treasury Solutions.