By Jeoffrey Mukubi
Personality Betty Davids recently sat down with Auditor Nangula Uaanja for an inspiring talk on her Instagram page about the Namibian Investment Promotion Agency Board, which ultimately was set up to help attract foreign and local investment.
“The inequality rate as well as the unemployment rate in Namibia is high and it has always been the private sector’s responsibility to create jobs but in Namibia it has been the government that has been creating jobs in the army and schools etc,” Uaanja said.
Uaanja continued talking about the importance of IPA and why the president decided that it was necessary to set up the board.
“These are his last four years and he really wants to deliver on the promise of prosperity for all Namibians” she said.
She also added that there are many projects on the pipeline that will directly help the youth secure jobs, but Davids then stopped her and said that those words have already been preached before and that the youth is still waiting.
“I am a very competitive person and one I set my mind to something then I’ll do it or die trying. I’m sure if we all work together then this will work,” Uaanja said.
Davids then asked why the young people in Namibia are always shunned upon when investors come to Namibia even though there had been conferences tailor made for young people to engage with foreign investors.
“Well Namibians are good at a few things and that is setting up conferences and writing policies, but we always have a challenge is implementing those policies. That is why the IPA was created, so that it is not the government’s responsibility to implement them but ours” Uaanja said.
She also added that when these opportunities do arrive, SMEs and other private institutions can avoid being sidelined and have their companies accredited by the IPA in order to avoid corruption and favoritism. “I am going to work with young people and let them hold me accountable,” she added.
The conversation ended with Davids hinting that the youth would also want to engage with the president on Instagram and that Uaanja can set it up.
