Tujoromajo Kasuto
Namibia’s start-up companies, although in their infancy, show promise for the future, as the country continues its growth trajectory, improving its position by eight places to rank 91 overall after joining the Global Ecosystem Index for Small Businesses in 2021.
It is ranked second in Southern Africa and eleventh in Africa, up two positions from 2021.
A start-up company is a newly formed business with particular momentum behind it, based on perceived demand for its product or service.
The intention of a start-up is to grow rapidly as a result of offering something that addresses a particular market gap.
According to Start-Up Namibia, the current conditions for start-ups and for upscaling small businesses are inadequate. Support structures for start-ups are still in their very early stages, but do show promise for the future.
‘’Start-Up Namibia therefore aims to improve the conditions for the establishment and growth of start-ups in selected regions in Namibia and can drive job creation in Namibia and positively impact overall economic productivity.’’
They can also contribute to economic growth by spurring innovation and creating a competitive business environment.
The Middle East and the African region has a total of 57 start-up ecosystems represented in the global top 1000 cities ranking, down from 74 in 2021.
At the country level, there are 22 start-up ecosystems in the region ranked in the top 100, just as in 2021.
Israel remains the main player in the region by a significant margin, being the only country in the top 20 at 3rd in the world. Two countries from the region accompany Israel in the top 50 namely the United Arab Emirates
(27th) and South Africa (49th). But Israel’s score is still 379% better than its nearest contender in the region, the UAE, such that no regional power shifts are expected anytime soon.
In the Middle East & Africa region, the best country-level news comes from Morocco which increased 16 places to 79th in the world, and two countries that we welcome as new entrants to the top 100: Senegal at 92nd and Angola at 97th.
The most notable decline comes from Rwanda, which lost 15 spots to rank 84th. Also, Uganda and Ethiopia have fallen below the top 100 threshold.
The Global Start-up Ecosystem Index is built using hundreds of thousands of data points processed by an algorithm which takes into account several dozens of parameters.
