• Market Watch

Broaden local content beyond oil, Hangala urges

• 2 Weeks Ago - 2024-04-22 00:00:00

Businessman Leake Hangala says the development of a local policy content should not only be limited to oil and gas resources, but should be encouraged in other industries as well to ensure that Namibians fully participate in all sectors of the economy.
He made the comments at the recently concluded Namibia Local Content Conference, adding that there was a need to create sectorial local content policies.
Citing the retail sector, Hangala said it held massive potential to drive broad-based empowerment due to its extensive linkages through the economy.
“We must develop local content policy for other sectors of our economy; for mining, for financial services, for retail. We have been independent for 34 years, [but] there is no major Namibian-owned retail company except Woermann Brock."
The good thing about retail companies is that they are critical to the provision of goods and services in the different sectors of the economy, he added.

Local ownership
There is a need for Namibians to enjoy active ownership to ensure benefit is gained.
“For an economy like Namibia, if you do not have a retail company with local participation, it does not help so it is important that we also participate in the economy. Namibians must also participate in the ownership and management of our different sectors of the economy,” Hangala said.
He further called on the government to be intentional when developing local content policies and transforming them into pieces of legislation.
“These policies must move to legislation to also become laws, to ensure that operators deliver annual plans for these policies,” Hangala said.
Another key aspect, the businessman said, is the need to set up administrative bodies to ensure local content policy objectives are met.
“It is important for government to put up administrative bodies that are official and deliver in a timely fashion,” he said.