Martin Endjala
The Namibia Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s (NCCI) Chief Executive Officer, Charity Mwiya urged all Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to start collaborating to form consortiums.
She said by doing this, many SMEs stand a chance to compete within various markets both locally and internationally while cautioning that those who choose to operate individually will miss out on many opportunities.
“SMEs need to start forming consortiums to leverage the benefits of partnerships. The NCCI is here to expose you to various markets and partnerships will assist you along the way”.
Mwiya said this during a business connect engagement between SMEs and Meatco in Windhoek on Tuesday. The engagement is part of the NCCI’s enterprise development programme.
She said that the world is moving at a fast pace with many new avenues emerging, such as the green economy, oil and gas and artificial intelligence (AI). She added that SMEs will have to tap into these avenues by pooling resources and forming partnerships.
According to Mwiya, this will be the only way for SMEs to succeed.
She indicated that countries such as Ghana when visiting Namibia always come as a consortium which benefits every member.
Hence she argues that an individual SME competing in such markets, will not stand a good chance of success.
Mwiya called on SMEs to do away with the notion of wanting to work alone or assisting another SME to get exposure out of fear that doing so might be detrimental to their own business.
She said NCCI has created policies and frameworks to guide the private and public sectors on how to conduct themselves and their businesses.
She also urged SMEs to participate in conferences and engagements where they can meet new people and form new partnerships while also gaining much-needed information on the businesses they are venturing into and gaining expertise or training.
Moreover, businesses are reminded to continue adhering to the policy frameworks to ensure that they do not fall on the wrong side of the law, in particular by paying royalties and taxes.
Furthermore, the NCCI reaffirmed its commitment to continue looking after the well-being of the business industry and the country, by ensuring that policies are favourable to both local and foreign business.
That speaks to the needs on the ground, while engaging government on various interventions to create more markets for old, new and upcoming SMEs in the country.
