NDTC Air Namibia Featuring Namibia’s Top Executives...The upgrading project, to start in 2019,...

The Executive | 2019 The Executive | 2019PB 1

Baronice HansBank Windhoek

Kennedy HamutenyaNAMDIA

Licky Richard Erastus MTC

Christian LiEngen Namibia

Conrad LutombiRoads Authority

Patty Karuaihe-MartinNamibRe

Abraham NehemiaNamWater

Rosalia Martins-Hausiku MVA Fund

David NuyomaGIPF

Brent EisebNDTC

Immanuel MulungaNAMCOR

Deidré Sauls-DeckenbrockAir Namibia

Theo MujoroECN

Festus MbandekaCRAN

Featuring Namibia’s Top

Executives

August 2019 - July 2020

Commerce Innovation Leadership

The Executive | 2019 The Executive | 20192 3

National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia1 Aviation Road, Petroleum House

Private Bag 13196, Windhoekwww.namcor.com.na

[email protected]@namcor.com.na

The skyline of Namibia is changing every day. From East to West, North to South, our structures reflect

our nation’s dynamic spirit. That’s where we come in. Our operations in fuel and lubricants supply the energy that

supports the transfer of solutions and ideas from one part of Namibia to another. While our work in exploration ensures that we will never stop looking for ways to support a future that’s as promising as it is exciting. So, to every Namibian,

we say, keep building a future that’s bigger than today. We’ll supply the energy to get you there.

THE ENERGY TO BUILD CITIES OF THE FUTURE

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EDITORPenda Jonas Hashoongo

+264 (0) [email protected]@[email protected]

MARKETINGTaleni Kashe

[email protected]

PRODUCTIONImpeccable Technology & Designs

[email protected]

PHOTOGRAPHYDr. Njohela Mwandemele

[email protected]

CONTRIBUTIONSWesley UrassaTirivangani MasawiLinekela Halwoodi

ISSN Number: 2026-8777

The Executive 2019 is a product of Mushrooms Media CC, which reserves the right to the content herein. It is a registered Namibian publication under the News/Imprint Registration Act (Act No. 63 of 1971). Unauthorized use or replication of the content herein is strictly prohibited in terms of the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Protection Act (Act No. 6 of 1994, as amended).

Published by Mushrooms Media CC trading as PTW Media.

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CONTENTSEDITOR’S NOTE

Penda Jonas Hashoongo

NAMIBIA DIAMOND TRADING COMPANY (NDTC)Mr. Brent Eiseb

NAMIB DESERT DIAMONDS (NAMDIA)Mr. Kennedy Hamutenya

MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS LIMITED (MTC)Dr. Licky Richard ErastusMr. Thinus SmitMr. Tim EkandjoMrs. Patience KanaleloMr. Andre de Jager

BANK WINDHOEKMrs. Baronice Hans

NAMIBIA WATER CORPORATION (NAMWATER)Mr. Abraham Nehemia

ROADS AUTHORITY (RA)Mr. Conrad Mutonga Lutombi

MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENT FUND (MVA FUND)Rosalia Martins-HausikuSurihe Gaomas-GuchuLukas Ndjamba Joelynn Kurz Fanuel UugwangaJulius HaikaliPhillip Nghifitikeko

AIR NAMIBIAAdv. Deidré L. Sauls-DeckenbrockNangula KaulumaWilly MertensEscher LuandaHeritha Nankole MuyobaCaptain Alois Garai

ENGEN NAMIBIAMr. Christian Li

NATIONAL PETROLEUM CORPORATION OF NAMIBIA (NAMCOR)Mr. Immanuel Mulunga

GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS PENSION FUND (GIPF)Mr. David Nuyoma

ELECTORAL COMMISSION OF NAMIBIA (ECN)Mr. Theo Mujoro

NAMIBIA NATIONAL REINSURANCE CORPORATION LTD (NAMIBRE)Mrs. Patty Karuaihe-Martin

COMMUNICATIONS REGULATORY AUTHORITY OF NAMIBIAMr. Festus K. Mbandeka

NOTABLE EXECUTIVE APPOINTMENTS 2019Bisey UirabMonique CloeteWessie van der WesthuizenSarel van ZylErwin TjipukaJohannes !Gawaxab

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From limited immigration checkpoints, to long queues and only two baggage carousels, NAC and the Government in December 2018 decided to roll out a HKIA upgrading Project currently estimated to be worth N$ 245 Million. N$95.2 million of this amount will come from NAC own resources while the balance will be provided by the shareholder. The upgrading project, to start in 2019, will include the revamp and modernizing of the check-in and departure halls, security screening point, arrivals hall and the luggage handling areas. Installation of a CCTV and intrusion detection system at HKIA has already commenced. The upgrade will also include the upgrading to introduce latest advance technologies and software systems related to self-check ins and screening for both passengers and luggage.

CONTACT DETAILSNamibia Airports Company5th Floor, Sanlam Centre, Independence Avenue, WindhoekPO Box 23061, Windhoek, NamibiaTel: +264 (0) 61 295 5000 Fax: +264 (0) 61 295 5022E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.airports.com.naFacebook: Namibia Airports Company Limited

The upgrade work will have minimal effect on the current airport operations, which will continue as usual. The old terminal, known as Terminal One, currently only used for VIP movements, will also form part of the work to be done to have a dedicated international departure and arrival Terminal as well as a Domestic departure and arrival Terminal. This will go a long way to make HKIA as one of the advanced airport in our Region.

Congestion at HKIA is not only causing discomfort to the passengers but also creating a number of issues pertaining to the compliance of aviation regulations, especially due to prevalent mixing of screened and unscreened passengers at certain intervals of the day. Enjoy your flights with us at HKIA!

Hosea Kutako International Airport (HKIA) undergoes revamp

The Executive | 20196

The era of transformational leadership.

Edit

or’s

Note

A backdrop of an adverse local economy, complemented by severe drought conditions, has created perhaps the best yardstick for leadership in recent years.

The 2019 edition of The Executive, a publication for Namibia’s foremost corporate leaders, provides an amalgamation of individuals from various sectors ranging from energy to the communications, who have not only weathered the adversities indicated in the preamble, but have also stood out as emissaries of the sort of leadership that reverberates through-out their organizations.

Focusing on the core themes of leadership, commerce and innovation, The Executive 2019 explores the unique characteristics and strategies used by the country’s elite corporate leaders to ensure the growth of their organizations (where applicable) as well as to equip others with the requisite skills and capacities that will enable them to carry on the mantle of transformational leadership.

The use of innovation as a tool to promulgate efficiency at various levels within the featured

organizations and beyond is a key focus area that will be covered in The Executive 2019, while its importance in the process of transformational leadership will also be interrogated.

The publication further explores the complexities associated with leadership, some of which are specific to certain sectors, while others are omnipresent.

In addition to the personal influences that guide the country’s top corporate leaders to effectively execute their duties, The Executive 2019 also outlines the strategies used to further their own capacities while also ensuring the sustainability of the communities within which they operate through diverse and far reaching Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives.

Lastly, The Executive 2019, through the perspectives of the featured corporate leaders, charts the envisaged growth of the organizations they represent, while also chronicling the strategies that will be used to ensure the realization of the plans that they have laid out.

Penda Jonas HashoongoEditor

From limited immigration checkpoints, to long queues and only two baggage carousels, NAC and the Government in December 2018 decided to roll out a HKIA upgrading Project currently estimated to be worth N$ 245 Million. N$95.2 million of this amount will come from NAC own resources while the balance will be provided by the shareholder. The upgrading project, to start in 2019, will include the revamp and modernizing of the check-in and departure halls, security screening point, arrivals hall and the luggage handling areas. Installation of a CCTV and intrusion detection system at HKIA has already commenced. The upgrade will also include the upgrading to introduce latest advance technologies and software systems related to self-check ins and screening for both passengers and luggage.

CONTACT DETAILSNamibia Airports Company5th Floor, Sanlam Centre, Independence Avenue, WindhoekPO Box 23061, Windhoek, NamibiaTel: +264 (0) 61 295 5000 Fax: +264 (0) 61 295 5022E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.airports.com.naFacebook: Namibia Airports Company Limited

The upgrade work will have minimal effect on the current airport operations, which will continue as usual. The old terminal, known as Terminal One, currently only used for VIP movements, will also form part of the work to be done to have a dedicated international departure and arrival Terminal as well as a Domestic departure and arrival Terminal. This will go a long way to make HKIA as one of the advanced airport in our Region.

Congestion at HKIA is not only causing discomfort to the passengers but also creating a number of issues pertaining to the compliance of aviation regulations, especially due to prevalent mixing of screened and unscreened passengers at certain intervals of the day. Enjoy your flights with us at HKIA!

Hosea Kutako International Airport (HKIA) undergoes revamp


The Executive | 2019 9

Chief Executive OfficerMr. Brent Eiseb



Mr. Brent Eiseb serves as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Namibia Diamond Trading Company (NDTC), having assumed the role on 01 January 2019.

A veteran of the diamond industry, having joined De Beers as a Trainee Sorter 23-years ago, Eiseb worked in the Rough Diamond Division for five years after completing his 1-year job training. He was, during this tenure, also seconded to the De Beers UK Office, where he garnered his passion for diamonds.

Following his 10-year tenure in the Rough Diamonds Division, Eiseb became a Trainee Key Account Manager as part of the Sales Team in London, England, where he trained for 1-year before returning to Namibia in December 2007 and taking up the substantive role of Key Account Manager.

Subsequently, Eiseb was appointed the Head of Sales and Marketing at the NDTC in April 2010.

He then served as the Vice President for the Eastern Hemisphere for De Beers’ Sightholder Sales; a position that had him based in Gaborone, Botswana, and heading the Key Accounts Management teams for the Indian and Far-East markets.

Eiseb returned to Namibia in May 2016 to take up the position of Senior Manager for Sales and Marketing at the NDTC, a position he held until his appointment as the organization’s CEO.

EXECUTIVE PROFILE

What excites you most about leading the Namibia Diamond Trading Company (NDTC) in the new position of Chief Executive Officer?

Since I am very much a child of the NDTC, with my journey with the NDTC or the diamond industry having started 23 years ago, there are many things that excite me. On the back of that experience I’ve had the privilege of being exposed to numerous aspects of the diamond industry, not just in Namibia but also across the globe, interacting with different people and it’s really just the passion I have not just for rough diamonds, but also the people I work with on a daily basis.

What is really exciting is that over the last 10 to 11 years, NDTC has been very successful in securing its mandate, which is to sort value and to sell rough diamonds sold by Namdeb Holdings, while at the same time facilitating the downstream beneficiation in the diamond industry. It’s something that, as a Namibian, I’m very proud of and a lot of thanks has to go to my predecessor, Dr Shihaleni Ndjaba, for laying the foundation for us to take it forward.

What really excites me is the opportunity to move the business forward and create an opportunity for my colleagues to be part of something that they can be very proud of, to create an environment where people are excited to come to work every day and where they feel that their contribution is valued, where they feel they are making a significant contribution, not just to the success of

the NDTC, but also to the success of Namibia as a country. What we do here has a significant impact not only on the diamond industry but the country’s economy as well. Therefore, we understand that role and responsibility and internally I just want to make sure that the team and myself are excited about what we do and what we achieve in that space.

The next step of diamond beneficiation in Namibia is also something I’m excited about. Since we have been able to help create a resilient industry where we have 11 siteholder companies (cutting and polishing factories) that have been able to set up operations in Namibia, invest in infrastructure, technology and creating jobs and ensuring skills transfer within the over 1 000 individuals employed in that sector, we then look at what the next horizon for beneficiation is. We have to look at the challenges that we must overcome as an industry and a country to make sure that we create a conducive environment for this, and those are challenges that I am really looking forward to.

Tell us a bit about the foundation laid by your predecessor, Mr Shihaleni Ndjaba and how that ties into ensuring continuity at the organization?

Tate Ndjaba, as he is affectionately known, was obviously the founding Chief Executive Officer of the NDTC since its establishment in 2007 and he has been instrumental over the last 11 years in not only the internal processes and systems, ensuring that the sorting and valuing is



done correctly, but also in ensuring that the business understands the aspirations of Namibia as a diamond producing country to see how more value can be derived from its rough diamonds.

Through his leadership style and ability to bring on board numerous stakeholders and make sure that we all understand where we have to go, he has been instrumental in terms of laying that foundation. It has made my team and it’s job of taking that forward to the next level easier.

What role does innovation play in the NDTC’s operations?

At the NDTC, innovation is definitely something we look at for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the environment in which we operate, whether internally or externally, is constantly changing and evolving. When we live in a VUCA [volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity] world, it is important that we constantly look at how we do things and assess not only our processes but also how we engage with our stakeholders and customers. Innovation is, therefore, key in terms of making sure that we stay ahead of the ever-changing environment.

We’ve got an established way of doing things in that the way we sort and value diamonds is something that has been done probably for 30 years in Namibia already, way before the establishment of the NDTC, and we are quite well versed in that regard and have the capabilities and capacity to do that. Obviously, as our environment changes, we need to think about how we do that better and efficiently and like with any other business, we are constantly required to do more with less. That’s where innovation comes in, to say we’ve got a clear business strategy and mandate in terms of what we have to deliver, but in an environment where resources are scarce, we need to constantly look at our costs and budget and how to do things in a way that we adhere to both our mandate and our business strategy, in a way that brings value to all our stakeholders. We are also constantly looking at whether the technology we are using is up to date and how we streamline our processes and simplify them for efficiency and so on.

Innovation is also important in terms of human resources because we are constantly looking at how to develop our human resources to stay ahead of the game. Innovation is, therefore, a key component of what we do on a day-to-day basis at the NDTC.

In terms of leadership; how do you ensure that everybody at the organization is towing in the same direction?

What my team and I have done is try to refocus the business on its core objectives of sorting value and selling diamonds sold by Namdeb Holdings. How we sort and distribute these diamonds is obviously stipulated by the Namibian diamond sorting, valuing, sales and marketing agreement between the Namibian government and De Beers.

On the back of that, we have a clear business strategy that focuses on various aspects including; optimizing processes and systems; effective stakeholder management [constantly engaging stakeholders to ensure that we are all aligned in terms of where we are going]; creating value for our shareholders and particularly with our people, creating an environment where they can give their best. It’s about making sure we have the right people in the right positions with the right remuneration and being a high performance organization. The strategy from that perspective is very clear.

What we have done since I took over in January is making sure that the organization understands where we are going, so this means providing clarity in terms of direction; making sure that everybody understands what our vision

What my team and I have done is try to refocus

the business on its core objectives of sorting value and selling diamonds sold by Namdeb Holdings. How

we sort and distribute these diamonds is obviously

stipulated by the Namibian diamond sorting, valuing,

sales and marketing agreement between

the Namibian government and

De Beers.



and mission is as well as the purpose of the NDTC and how the activities undertaken here impact the economy of the country and how crucial these activities are in that perspective.

The other thing we have focused on is ensuring alignment of values and the behaviours that underpin those values and what the desired behaviours are from that perspective. This is really key because it is the cornerstone of any winning organizational culture. We have done a lot of work with the team to try and focus the business in that space because this then drives all the other things we have spoken about, including the creation of value for our stakeholders and customers and guiding our interactions with our stakeholders and how we can become more customer-centric. This focus is not something that happens overnight, it is something that we, as an organization, are going to continue working on.

What is the strategic importance of the NDTC in the value chain of the diamonds mined in Namibia?

The way I see NDTC is that it is the glue that brings everything together. If you look at the value-chain, you’ll see that we have Namdeb Holdings, owned by De Beers, that does the mining and all those diamonds get passed on to the NDTC and we sort and value those diamonds with the use of the unique skills and in-house technology that we’ve got and making sure that we can get the right value for them. NDTC is then tasked with making sure that we distribute those rough diamonds in accordance with the sales and marketing agreement mentioned earlier and that includes the 15% share given to NAMDIA and a price index of N$430 million that we then make available for value addition purposes with our customers known as the NDTC siteholders and then we also sell the rest to De Beers and these get shipped to Botswana.

If you think about it, once our siteholders have cut and polished these diamonds, then there’s a certain percentage that ends up in what we call the downstream industry that include the making of jewellery sold to tourists and so on. It’s a small percentage at the moment, but that activity is actually happening. What we are seeing is that if we look at a carat as a see-saw, then we would have NDTC at the centre, making sure that what we get from the upstream gets distributed optimally in terms of the existing agreement and making sure that beneficiation happens, that jobs are created and skills are transferred, as well as ensuring that the necessary investment takes place. We also have to ensure that downstream, the country is feeling those effects.

The other thing that NDTC is doing and which in my view we should be doing more, is having the conversation about where we are from a beneficiation perspective and how we become competitive as a beneficiation centre and how we spearhead these conversations, particularly in

an environment where government is now looking at the establishment of a minerals beneficiation policy. I think NDTC is in a unique position in that we have, through trial and error, worked out a beneficiation strategy. There is a lot of learning that has come out of that and it’s important that as a key stakeholder in this process we share these lessons, both positive and the challenges, and ensure a holistic understanding. The way I see NTDC is that we play a pivotal role as the country moves forward in making sure that it has a viable and sustainable beneficiation policy in place.

How has the downturn of the local economy impacted the NDTC?

The reality is that NDTC is a Namibian company. Given that we have employees operating in this environment as well, we know from our engagements with key stakeholders such as the unions,and we can see that the impact of the downturn is being felt at every level.

When one looks at the socio-economic impact, from an NDTC perspective, since we are a responsible corporate citizen, we cannot shy away from the fact that there are a number of challenges the country is facing. When there are job losses, communities being impacted whether that’s mines or businesses closing down, it has a significant negative impact.

The one thing that does shield us is the fact that we sort and value rough diamonds that end up in the global market, particularly the US market, which accounts for about 50% of the global demand for diamonds. That economy has been performing relatively well compared to the local economy. We also have China and India as the other big markets and the growth that we have seen in China is single digit but it’s still a major market, so when we consider where our rough diamonds end up, we’ve been shielded to a certain extent on what’s happening on the ground. We can, however, not deny that our employees are being impacted by the downturn of the local economy and also the communities around us and this has forced us to think about how we, as a responsible corporate citizen, can mitigate or help in this regard.

What are the key impediments to the smooth implementation of the NDTC’s corporate strategy?

Because we are very clear on what our mandate is and have a clear strategy that supports it, we’ve been able to implement the corporate strategy successfully over the last 11 years. Where we are finding challenges is in ensuring that we have the right skills in the right jobs. What we have seen, with the advent of the creation of the likes of NAMDIA and the fact that there is a current tender process for the government diamond valuators, is that the only place where those skills are readily available is at the NDTC. We’ve had to think about how [as we are losing



these skills to NAMDIA and potentially to government through the diamond valuation tender] we manage these losses.

We’ve always prided ourselves in ensuring that we develop in-house skills because these are not usually the sort of skills that you can get from tertiary institutions so we spend a lot of time and effort developing these, especially the core skills to our mandate. So, that has been a bit of a challenge.

The other thing we are finding challenging is the outdated and misaligned legislation. If you look at [particularly in the beneficiation space] the Diamond Act, which was promulgated in 1999, well before the advent of beneficiation, we find that it is really geared towards the extractive or mining industry. It doesn’t talk to what we do from our NDTC perspective and that has been one of the challenges. We then have to look at what the Diamond Act says and find out how we align this to EPZs [Export Processing Zones] from that perspective. So, in our view this legislation is outdated and misaligned in terms of where we would like to take beneficiation and ensure beneficiation growth in the country.

Could you tell us a bit about NDTC in relation to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)?

Apart from the sorting and valuing of diamonds, the one thing we are passionate about is the fact that we understand the importance of making an impact in the communities in which we operate. We are all Namibians and we all come from these communities that are currently experiencing hardships. That is why we have decided we cannot just leave it up to the government to solve these problems.

Therefore, with the limited resources at our disposal, we refocused our CSR strategy to do more than just give a donation here and there. We looked at projects, partnerships and initiatives that have a sustainable approach, but also have a big impact in their respective communities.

First of all, we started moving away from a quantity approach, and focused on the quality of our investments in this space. Secondly, we looked at how to partner with civil society; non-governmental organizations or organizations that try to make an impact in communities. This refocused approach then looked at taking two to three initiatives that we can support every year and then augment this with slotting in other initiatives where we can. The long-term agreements or partnerships in this sense are more geared towards a sustainable impact over a certain period of time.

The second part of that agreement is to see how we can leverage and bring other players to the table and what we have done recently is to bring the Diamond Manufacturers Association (DIAMAN) on board and they have put together some money to assist in this regard. This strategy

looks at pulling resources together where, for example, if an initiative will be funded at N$1 million, then we will say we put in N$500 000 and they put in the other N$500 000 and then we make an impact from that perspective.

For example, the Deputy Minister of Mines and Energy has initiated a low-cost housing initiative in the Omaheke Region. Between us we have been able to sponsor about 10 houses that are being built. Another initiative that will be announced in due course is the one we are working on with the Manufacturers Association of Namibia, the Cancer Association of Namibia and the Ministry of Health and Social Services to make improvements on the children’s cancer ward at the Windhoek Central Hospital. It is geared towards creating a conducive environment for the children who often have to stay there for months.

The bigger initiatives that we partnered with include Twapewa Kadhikwa’s Institute for Entrepreneurship and SME Development, and we have launched the three-year Olafika SME Mentorship Programme and it really creates capacity in the SME [small and medium enterprise] space, where SMEs are identified in all 14 regions and they are assisted with capacity in terms of managing their businesses. It’s not about going there and providing funding, rather on helping the SMEs understand the core competencies that take their businesses from the current standing to the next phase. The institution has developed a curriculum and a toolkit that looks at various aspects, including market creation, how to engage with employees, marketing of products, etc. The initiative was launched last year and this year we have participants that are on a three-month course, after which there will be an graduation ceremony. It aims to create training for about 70 entrepreneurs across the country over the three-year period.

We strongly believe in this initiative because of the understanding that SMEs are the backbone of the economy and it also creates an opportunity for them to impart this knowledge to the communities from which they hail and it speaks to the sort of impact we would like to have in our communities and uplifting the country.

How do you envisage the growth of the NDTC over the next decade?

As mentioned earlier, what we do at the NDTC is prescribed by the sales and marketing agreement, which is a 10-year agreement. It is very clear in terms of our mandate and we do not expect this agreement to change in this period. Therefore, when we speak of growth, our strategy is not so much about growth, such as in the strictest terms growing our revenue or the number of carats, it is more on the efficient delivery of our mandate. This includes how we do more with less and how the service and product that we offer to our customers can be improved and create a conducive environment to move beneficiation forward. That’s really where our strategy is pillared.


The Executive | 2019 13The Executive | 2019


Chief Executive OfficerMr. Kennedy Hamutenya


As a new entrant to the diamond value chain, what are some of the key accomplishments the organization has recorded since its inception in 2016? NAMDIA was started in August 2016 as a result of a cabinet resolution subsequent to an agreement between the Namibian Government and De Beers. That agreement empowered us, as Namibia, to sell and market our own diamonds as, since before and immediately after independence, our diamonds were sold through De Beers, an Anglo-South African company, which acted as the middle man on our (Namibia’s) behalf. With diamonds being a strategic resource for Namibia, given the percentage of the revenue the resource imparts onto government coffers through royalties and taxes, we resolved to take sovereignty over this resource.

Namibia, in order to develop the capacity, knowledge and market intelligence so that we can sell our own stocks, decided to create an international sales and marketing company that belongs exclusively to the Namibian Government. It is upon that basis that Namib Desert Diamonds (NAMDIA) was formed.

NAMDIA is a commercial entity, a PTY LTD and is at the moment classified as a State-Owned Enterprise governed by the State-Owned Enterprises Act, reporting to both the Ministry is the Ministry of Mines and Energy as well as the Ministry of Public Enterprises (in terms of governance). Upon the decision to form NAMDIA, a decision was

taken to allow this organization to market 15% of all the diamonds mined by De Beers (through Namdeb Holdings - comprised of Debmarine Namibia and Namdeb) to local and international clients. FinancingFollowing the decision to form NAMDIA, a challenge was experienced in that government, as the primary shareholder, was not willing to provide guarantees for us to commence our operations. As such, and following major negotiations, NAMDIA managed to secure its first 15% of the diamonds to market, which it was able to do successfully, following a tour around the world by its representatives to seek willing and appropriate buyers ranging from the United States of America to the United Arab Emirates, as per the requirements of The Kimberly Process, which shall be explained later in the interview. The organization now has about 16 clients internationally.The track-record of selling the first 15% then allowed us to approach commercial banks, who were initially reluctant to offer us financing due to our limited track record of diamond sales, as well as our lack of guarantees.

Through blind faith, however, NAMDIA managed to secure a facility of us a facility of U$20 million (N$296 million) from First National Bank, through its RMB Investment arm, which has since grown to U$25 million (N$370 million). The securing of financing to commence our operations is thus one of our achievements.

Kennedy Hamutenya serves as the founding Chief Executive Officer of Namib Desert Diamonds (NAMDIA), a position he has held since 01 August 2016. Hamutenya, a tenured expert in the local diamond industry, started his professional career at the Coors Technical Ceramics Company in Colorado, United States of America, where he served as a Metallurgical and Materials Engineer.

Upon returning to Namibia, he assumed the role of Inspector of Mines under the Ministry of Mines and Energy, before taking up the role of Secretary to the Diamond Board.

He then went on to become the Director of Mines, also under the Ministry of Mines and Energy, and then the national Diamond Commissioner.

Hamutenya also served in numerous other capacities, including the International Seabed Authority’s Legal and Technical Commission, where he was a member; as Chairperson of the Kimberly Process Participation Committee; Director at Namdeb Diamond Corporation (Pty) Ltd; Deputy Chairperson of De Beers Marine Namibia as well as Chairperson of Debmarine Namibia, among others.

In his role as Diamond Commissioner, Hamutenya was the principal advisor to the Namibian Government on diamond policy and was a key player in the negotiations between the Namibian Government and De Beers, which resulted in the signing of the Diamond Sales and Marketing Agreement in May 2016.

EXECUTIVE PROFILE

15The Executive | 2019The Executive | 2019


consumers such as the royals, the Sheiks (a niche market) etc. allowing NAMDIA to get the best premiums.

Through this network of partners that we have made, NAMDIA is also now a well-recognized brand to the international market. All the serious diamond experts know what NAMDIA is about and everybody wants to be our client.That is another one of our achievements. Robust Strategic Business PlanAnother success for NAMDIA is its very robust strategic business plan, which looks at where the organization wants to be five years from now and which has been approved by the board and the Ministry of Mines and Energy. ExpansionAdditionally, NAMDIA does not simply wish to be a company that sells diamonds. As the organization becomes stronger and as its cashflow becomes stronger, there is a need become more proficient and competent in the business and the next level that it is exploring is diamond cutting and polishing. Strategic StaffingIn order to realize this plan, NAMDIA needs to have a performance management system and this has since


HeadquartersThrough that facility and the initial N$50 million acquired from the Namibian government, NAMDIA was able to construct its new headquarters, moving away from the small office in Maerua Mall, where it started operating from. This also enabled the organization to equip the building with robust security features that are both comprehensive in securing the high value commodity that NAMDIA is tasked with marketing, as well as the people who work at the organization.

Fortunate to be a new entrant in the market, NAMDIA was able to take advantage of the latest technology on the market to ensure that the place is secure for the aforementioned purposes. Strategic PartnersUpon the trip taken to secure international clients, which spanned over 6 countries over 28 days, NAMDIA managed to attract 74 applications, notwithstanding the U$ 10 000 (N$148 000) non-refundable application fee that was required. After a process of due diligence, NAMDIA was able to trim these applications to the desired client base, which is comprised of organizations it sees as strategic partners that will allow Namibian diamonds to leave their footprints and a positive legacy around the world. The sort of partners that will take Namibia’s products to the best


been put in place. It involves being accountable to our stakeholders such as our clients and government. Key performance indicators are thus used for everybody. We also setup as structure based on the understanding that we need people to do the work and we’ve taken time to recruit the best people possible, especially when it comes to diamond skills. We have managed to recruit highly competent, highly qualified and highly skilled people to work here. Some of the people working here have years of experience working with diamonds, although not in all facets. It is important to have people who understand the value of diamonds because if they cannot tell the difference between this stone and that stone, the difference in value could be exponential. For this reason, all our managers have been on diamond courses to gain an understanding of the business. They have also been exposed to the world and the market in which we operate. The success rests in that we have managed to fulfill our staffing complement. We were originally 45 employees when we started. However, after a directive from the Ministry of Public Enterprises, we did some introspection and reduced our numbers to 24. We are however 21 at the moment as we are yet to appoint three additional people. DividendsIn a nutshell; after only two years in operation, we managed to pay back the original amount we received from government of N$50 million through a dividend. There will also be another dividend to the government this year in about September. We have also paid N$80 million to the government in taxes and export duties over the period in question to bring our direct contribution to government over this time to N$130 million. Doesn’t that overlap in the areas of other institutions? There is plenty of room everyone. In the quest to find out the real value of the Namibian diamond, it is important to note that the rough diamond industry is a U$13 billion (N$192 billion) market, whereas polished stones have a market of about U$30 billion (N$440 billion) to U$40 billion (N$592 billion). The jewelry market in contrast, is a U$90 billion market and that is where NAMDIA wishes to be. We cannot continue to underestimate the value of our stones and this is what will happen if we do not explore that aspect of the value chain. We don’t wish to be the jack-of-all-trades. We can do this through partnerships with experts in this field. After some time, and after we have gained some knowledge in that process, we can set up a factory that does not do mass production but caters for a niche market. That’s how we distinguish ourselves from the rest.

We never want to find our stones in a shop that says; ‘for sale’. The only way we can compete with the Chinas and Indias of the world is by going into a niche market. This is thus a part of our business plan. With reference to NAMDIA’s mandate, what are some of the opportunities that exist in the current market? At present, the market is down owing to situations such as the trade wars between the USA and China. This has created a lot of uncertainty around the world as people are wondering how this will affect their business. There is also BREXIT and the entire issue of drying up of financing in the pipeline. Many banks do not want to fund diamonds anymore because, for example in India, 8 out of every 10 diamonds are made and polished there. About 1 million people are employed just to cut and polish diamonds. They have also invested quite a lot of technology.

What happens in India is that because it is such a highly populated country, and in a bid to enhance employment creation, organizations that are able to import diamonds into India get ‘cheap money’ from the government. This means very good interest rates, on good terms and long repayment periods. They then take this money and invest it in real estate and get more money from it than they would from diamonds. This is where you get diamond experts who are not passionate about the business but more to make money in other ways. They are the ones who destroy the diamond business as they have no regard about what they are doing and how it affects the diamond pipeline.

This is also something we look at when we screen our clients. When we went to India, we found huge buildings with about 5000 to 6000 employees and the problem with these companies is that they are highly leveraged. They use so much bank money and when there’s a small disturbance in the market, they are the first to crash. Those are not people you want to be your clients. You then get people who have two to three generations of the family working in the diamond trade as they will use about 80% of their own money and 20% bank money.

Synthetic diamonds are also a major problem for the industry at the moment. Lab-grown diamonds started about 1880 or 1890. At the advent of this century, people were already experimenting with these diamonds made under intense pressure. They cost a lot of money to manufacture, which is why people have not really been able to produce quality lab-grown diamonds. Today, however, it is happening. In India, we saw stones that are about 8 carats and deep pink, which was made in the lab. The real stone in the market will cost U$650 000 (N$9.6 million) but that one was U$50 000 (N$780 000) and that shows the problem for our business. Especially the small stones because it’s very difficult to certify a small diamond. Therefore, when some diamond companies experience financial difficulties,



they start to introduce these synthetic diamonds, and this destroys consumer confidence.

This also presents us with a great opportunity because when we traveled, some companies explained to us that they wish to buy Namibian diamonds because they do not have to worry about them being conflict diamonds, used to launder money, finance terrorism, nor do they have to worry about them being synthetic diamonds. This is because Namibia has a great reputation internationally for the respect of human rights and rule of law. There is also an understanding that the proceeds from the purchase of these diamonds will go towards the building of roads, hospitals and schools etc.

The younger consumers, the millennials, are descending consumers as they have access to technology and before they buy these stones, they will do research. A popular trend in the market mow is block-chain, where people want to know exactly, where the stone was mined, where it was polished and through who’s hands it passed. The image of the product is very important now and Namdia has this unique opportunity in this regard. How would you define your leadership style? For an organization such as NAMDIA, the first point is to make sure that the right people are recruited, in addition to the performance management system in place that was mentioned earlier.

I believe in accountability. This means that if you are a member of my management and we are sitting on a table, the one thing I ask is what are the five things that you have to do to make sure that this organization achieves it mandate. I believe that my managers should concentrate on a few important things and not 1000 tasks. If you are the finance manager for example, I’d have expectations that we have enough money to buy the diamonds and that we pay our taxes and royalties.

For my HR Manager, I’d expect that when our clients come here, they are taken care of. We make sure during their stay here that they are catered for.

For my Sales Manager, I’d expect a good buying experience for our clients. That they pay for the stones on time and that all our other stakeholders are taken care of. That includes the Namibian people at large and how they relate to this company.

Accountability pertains to how you and I understand what is expected from the other. It doesn’t just flow in one direction. I am also accountable to my managers because if we have a meeting and I don’t show up, that means I am failing the organization. I believe in being accountable to each other in both a horizontal manner, and a vertical manner. I am also accountable to every person working

here. If I find somebody crying, I need to know why they are crying or what is making them unhappy because they spend 5 out of 7 of their week days here so they need to be happy and they need to feel at home. I need to make sure that my Minister is happy, that my cleaner here is happy and also accountable in the sense that they are doing what they are supposed to be doing. If people were able to just walk in here and go pick up a diamond, then I would hold the Safety and Security Manager accountable. At the end of the day, as the CEO I’m accountable for everything that happens here. I am accountable to everybody and everybody is accountable to me. I treat my people with respect, but also as grown ups. If they are not performing, I would want to find out why they are not doing so. We have developed a systematic approach to this business through trust. I can go away for a month and this business will continue to function. We create synergy here because we all try to achieve the same thing, that is what I encourage here. Could you elaborate on the relationship between NAMDIA, NAMDEB HOLDINGS and NDTC in the process of ensuring that Namibia reaps the maximum benefit from its diamonds? Prior to independence, there was one company in Namibia called Consolidated Diamond Mines (CDM). This was wholly-owned by De Beers. Again, prior to Namibia’s independence, the United Nations had a resolution that foreign companies are not allowed to come and exploit the country’s resources until it attained independence. When independence was attained, De Beers offered government 50% of its shares for N$1. That’s when NAMDEB PTY LTD was given the right to exploit the resources. That first joint venture between the Namibian government and De Beers was created in 1994. That company also had the right to mine at sea, but the mining was done by a South African contractor called De Beers Marine South Africa (90% of the employees were South African). This is where Debmarine Namibia came from, after we went to cabinet and negotiated with De Beers, and today as we speak, 95% of its employees are Namibian. That also includes a local procurement of goods and services such as catering, which was not the case before. The previous company was 15% owned by the Namibian government, but Debmarine Namibia, which is in existence now, is 50% owned by the Namibian government.

There is a company called Namdeb Holdings, the mother company of Namdeb PTY LTD and Debmarine Namibia with the former taking charge of the mining operations on land, while the latter handles the mining off shore. Then there is NDTC (Namibia Diamond Trading Company), it is also owned on a 50-50 basis between the Namibian government and De Beers. Namdeb mines the diamonds and they are flown from Oranjemund and into the Namdeb building, where they ae then sorted into 13 000 to 16 000



different categories of diamonds (price-points). NDTC sorts them into these categories and De Beers people come and negotiate with government on the price of these diamonds before we buy them, or before we sell them to the manufacturers. NDTC thus sorts the diamonds and sets the pricing using the De Beers price book.

In contrast, NAMDIA is 100% government owned. That means if N$1 is made at Namdeb, Debmarine Namibia or NDTC, then the Namibian government gets N$0.50 and the other N$0.50 goes to De Beers. When you make the same N$1 at NAMDIA, all of it goes to the Namibian government. We are a sovereign entity. We don’t sell our diamonds through third parties. We have the internal capacity to do so. That is the key difference. In what ways does your previous role as Diamond Commissioner of the Republic of Namibia differ from that of the Chief Executive Officer at NAMDIA, and where are the overlaps? I don’t think there are overlaps really. When I was the Diamond Commissioner, my key role was to regulate the diamond industry as per the Diamond Act of 1999. The Ministry of Mines and Energy has diamond inspectors and the Diamonds Act says all those mining diamonds must

have security plans in place so there is no theft or leakage in the transportation of those diamonds as it is the wealth of the Namibian people and therefore it has to be protected since it is a resource with a high concentration of value.

As Diamond Commissioner, my role was really to ensure that all the cutters, dealers and miners of diamonds comply with the policies that have been drafted to supplement the other regulations we have to enact. The primary thing was protection, and that ranges from things like who is allowed to touch the diamonds to who is allowed to working in the diamond area because there are stringent security checks. I was also tasked to promote investment in the diamond sector and to facilitate that through the creation of a conducive environment. I was also a key advisor to government, through the Ministry of Mines and Energy, on diamond policies. I was the chief negotiator between government and De Beers in the last negotiations where the resolution came from for NAMDIA to be founded. The Diamond Act has four types of licenses. One to cut diamonds, one to trade, one for tool making (industrial tools etc) and research such as the optical qualities of diamonds. Every one of those licensed is regulated by the Diamond Act, which is enforced by the Diamond Commissioner.



With NAMDIA being a trader, it means we are also just a player and have to abide by the rules of the Diamond Act. That means that the inspectors can come here and make sure that we run the company is run in a way that caters to the policies and regulations of this Act. They have to ensure that the diamonds are sealed before they are exported and that what comes in is in line with what’s on paper. The difference essentially is that I was the regulator, now I am regulated by the Diamond Commissioner and the Diamond Act. I’m just a player like NDTC and the cutting agencies. Are the regulations in the international diamond sector conducive for NAMDIA to execute its mandate seamlessly, or are there any ways in which this could be improved? The Kimberly Certification Process, to which I was one of the founders, was created when there was a war in Sierra Leone, and there was a fear that proceeds of diamond sales would fund these conflicts and this started to shift the perception of diamonds from one where it’s meant to signify love, compassion and commitment, to symbolize blood and conflict.

The Kimberly Process is a peer assessment system where


people from other countries come here and see that the proper regulations are in place and that the processes are sound and the diamonds that are mined are equal to the diamonds that are exported.

Through the Kimberly Process, it means that NAMDIA is not the one that is certified, but rather the country as a whole. That means everybody who is licensed to trade in Namibia has the same certification as the country. If you do not obey by the rules, then the government will take away your license. Additionally, a country that is certified by the Kimberly Process cannot trade with a country that does not have this certification. That means we can’t export to countries like Iraq, Iran or Lebanon and that applies with the importation of diamonds from such countries as well. As Namibia, we are certified by The Kimberly Process as a founder member and even chaired it in 2009. With N$2 billion worth of diamonds entrusted to NAMDIA to market annually, what are some of the challenges that come with managing such a mammoth organization? Government guaranteesAs mentioned before, one of our greatest challenge is the lack of government guarantees. That is something that


gave me nightmares because; Let’s suppose there’s a financial crisis tomorrow. The first casualty will be luxury items like diamonds. When the global economy is doing bad, the natural inclination of people is to panic and cut back of frivolous spending.

Conversely, when there is extra disposable income and the world is happy then people will buy these luxury items because it is a natural inclination to differentiate yourself and show that you are successful. That then means if you don’t have government guarantees and an economic crisis hits; how am I going to pay my employees? How am I going to pay for water and electricity? How will I continue to trade?

There were people who were skeptical about the success of NAMDIA from the onset, but I believe now they are starting to see the value that we are bringing.If we have these government guarantees, then it makes us sleep peacefully as well as enhancing our ability to trade in a responsible manner.

For example, if we have a big diamond, because I don’t have cash flow and I have to manage my finances in a prudent manner, I must sell that stone. However, if I had government guarantees, I can sit on that stone for two to three months and get the maximum value for it when the market is very good. That would mean I am not under any pressure to get rid of it.

The lack of guarantees also mean I have to borrow money from the bank at high interest rates, which would not be the case if I had government guarantees as the banks would not be worried about losing their money. That’s one of our challenges.

Market volatilityThe second is what I mentioned earlier about the market being very volatile and sensitive to international happenings. If we had an incident similar to 11 September 2001 today, then we would be in trouble when it comes to our business because then people retract into their shells and start imagining that there is war coming and start saving their pennies for a stormy day.

PerceptionThe volatility and sensitivity of the business then ties into one of my main challenges, which is perception. For instance, when a journalist writes lies and says we sold diamonds in Dubai when we have never sold a single stone in Dubai, then they create a perception in the minds of Namibians that we are not operating in the manner we should. That we are not selling our diamonds over the table, but rather under it. To diverge a bit, if I went to the bank and I borrowed N$100 to buy a diamond, why would I sell it at N$90? That means I would lose N$10. If this is what we were doing and is our business model, then how are we able to pay dividends to government? That explains

how important perception is. The important thing to know is that diamonds are not a homogeneous commodity, but rather a heterogeneous one as there are about 16 000 different types of diamonds.

When I say in the media that I sell diamonds and not bananas, I mean that the value of a diamond can differ greatly from one to the next. If you go to the shop to buy a banana, there’s not much difference in the price because there’s not much difference in the bananas, or that one has more quality than the other. They all taste the same. You, however, cannot do that with diamonds because there are 13 000 (to 16 000) different diamonds. That is why you must have diamond knowledge to sell these stones.

Safety and SecuritySafety and security of the product is another challenge because if I lose one stone, I can easily lose N$20 million. That is why we put money into this building to ensure the safety of the product and the people who work with it. That also includes making sure that I work with people of integrity all the time. There are also things that are happening outside that are beyond our control but still affect us. These include things like blood diamonds and consumer confidence issues.

GovernanceAnother challenge we have is that we are now categorized as any other State-Owned Enterprise like the Namibia Training Authority or the Electricity Control Board. This means that we are given tiers with regards to how much our people should be paid. For example, there was a moratorium put on the increase of salaries for my people. How do we then compete with the NDTCs or the Namdebs of the world, or even companies in Botswana or Angola, who can poach my people? If I don’t have incentives to retain my people, then I’m going to lose them. This is a handicap. I understand that this is a product of the current economic situation and I understand when I’m told to cut down my staff [and I did that] now the challenge is the retaining of the staff I have. These people will go somewhere else and where will I get these skills?

AllocationThe other challenge I have is quantity. The 15% we have is too small because we have 16 clients and how do we satisfy them with 15%? There are clients who will fly to Namibia to buy diamonds and they’ll say; “We came all this way just for a small bag of diamonds.” We definitely need between 30% to 50%. It’s good business for the country and more money going to us than to other people as we are not sharing with middle men and people from other countries. With the diamond sector being such a niche market, how does NAMDIA attract the requisite skills, in terms of human capital, especially taking into account that your clients are mostly internationally based?



The key people working here, I poached from NDTC and they have a wealth of knowledge on diamonds. Some have betwee 15 to 20 years experience in the industry so they are able to sort stones and make our clients comfortable about their purchases. The other departments which are support departments can be sourced elsewhere, they do not need a knowledge-base of diamonds even though we do expose them to it through these courses. What role does innovation play in NAMDIA’s operations? As mentioned before, due to our infancy in the market, we are at an advantage because we are able to take advantage of new trends of the technology. Today, if you want to be on top of the game, you have to have the newest or state-of-the-art technology. It allows you to explore the diamond and its characteristics to enable you to price it well.

The other thing is creating a niche market through the partners we have made and this allows our brand to expand faster and give us a unique advantage. Selling a niche product in a niche market. That is how we have positioned ourselves because once you have a household brand, the demand will be there. What impact has the adverse local economy had on NAMDIA’s operations, or has the international clientele buffered the diamond sector against these economic shocks? If the New York Stock Exchange goes up, then the price of our diamonds goes up. We sell our diamonds in United States Dollars but for reporting sake we translate it to Namibian Dollars. We are not so much affected by the local economy because our sales are not necessarily here. That’s why we are able to pay the dividends and so on, because we are operating in a different environment. It does, however, affect my staffing and these types of things. Tell us a bit about NAMDIA’s involvement in community upliftment projects or corporate social responsibility initiatives. How important are these to the NAMDIA brand? Although we are still relatively new, this has not stopped us from getting involved in social corporate investment and we have presented to our board a corporate investment strategy based on three pillars. These are health, education and sports. What we do not wish to do is to be scattered all over the place. We decided to go out in the regions and find the most impoverished and marginalised areas, where students are studying under the trees etc. We want to partner with these schools and essentially adopt them so we can build classrooms and computer labs as well as training the teachers to ensure that there are good

students graduating from these schools. It is a long terms support thing. We don’t want to engage in these once off initiatives. We want to have impact on the ground.

We are also trying to create a NAMDIA Foundation so that we can take the boxes of letters from around the country tend to them, depending on their relevance to the three pillars.

We recently became a sponsor of the Brave Warriors, especially with the African Cup of Nations, where we will give the players money if they draw a game and if they win a game. We are, however, trying to look at what other ways we can help the players so we can make their experience comfortable, so that situations such as them once having slept on benches the night before a crucial game because they could not afford hotels, don’t happen again. We will also look at boxing and other sport codes where other sponsors are not already there. What excites you about the future of NAMDIA? The future of NAMDIA is comprised of us creating a very robust brand in the market. We want a very strong brand. We want it to be synonymous with the best quality diamonds. The Lamborghini of the market. That is where we are heading. This allows us to sell at high premiums. We want it to be synonymous with the oldest diamond in the world and to create synergy between diamonds and tourism.

We also want to become ambassadors of Namibia, with reference to what we are going to do with our international strategic partners, creating our brand and taking our stones to the biggest shops and boutiques around the world.

We are also excited about the work we are going to do with the corporate social investment and what we are going to do with our brand.

We are also looking forward to an increased allocation, beyond the current 15%. What we want to do is show the government that with the small percentage that we have been given, we can do so well and we want to make it difficult for them to go to sleep and not think about expanding NAMDIA and giving us another 15% to take it to 30%, as this would mean more money for government, more good we can do for our country and more sovereignty over our resources and this should also extend to other minerals such as uranium and others. This will enable us as Namibians to run our own show without third parties and other people who do not have our interests at heart. We can handle our own resources because we know it is for our children and future generations so we can do it in a more responsible manner and for the benefit of our own people. NAMDIA is excited to exemplify what it is we can do as Namibians.

The Executive | 2019 23mtc.com.na /business

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Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC)

Acting Chief Executive OfficerDr. Licky Richard Erastus

Dr. Licky Richard Erastus is the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC), Namibia’s largest mobile operator, having assumed the role on 21 June 2019. Erastus, a technology expert, holds a Doctors of Philosophy qualification in Informatics degree from The Namibia University of Science and Technology.

He also serves as the Chief Technology Officer at MTC to direct MTC’s technology functions and also assist and facilitate the Executive Team’s strategic processes.

He has over 18 years’ experience in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector and joined MTC from the Ministry of Safety and Security, where he served as the Head of ICT for the Namibian Police, between 2012 and 2017, when he also served on the Interpol Global Cybercrime Expert Group and as well as a Data Protection Officer and Database Trainer for Interpol.

He further served in several academic committees like the (Cyber security advisory board for degree programmes in Cyber security and the Postgraduate for Certificate in ICT policy and regulation).

He also serves as deputy chairperson for the Namibia CERT steering committee, which is tasked with setting up the first ever-Namibian CERT.

He has a strong background in technology adoption, management and technology-human interface

development with emphasis on security and telecommunications service relevance. He

also received the Proff Yrjo Neuvo Award for the best graduate in the Faculty of

Informatics and Computing at the Namibian University of Science and Technology in 2015.

As of sites build, Phase 1 of 081Every1 project planned to build 111 network towers country wide,77 of these towers are already on air and 34 are in progress.

EXECUTIVE PROFILE



With technology being at the forefront of MTC’s operations, how do you ensure that the organization remains ahead in this respect?

The global market demand has always dictated the Mobile Operators’ rollout timeframes of generations of network connectivity, this is evident especially in the LTE standards. The standard advancement thus creating consumer trends. MTC’s technology needs to be “customer cnetric”, meaning the technology we intend to deploy must serve the consumer productively. A trend of New-age consumers that want immersive experiences such as augmented reality, smart homes, and autonomous solutions and cloud become a must for us. Namibia is connecting more and more with the rest of the world and MTC needs to be the catalyst that makes sure that this happens at a competitive pace that will enable our consumers’ economic development and effective integration of technology.

Could you elaborate on MTC’s commitment to innovation and the tools utilized to realize commitment?

MTC commitment has to deliver value to its customers and and providing universal access to LTE services through Rural LTE deployment and availing of affordable smartphones. MTC ‘s focus to deliver on its digital strategy and investment in improving our broadband infrastructure and customer service has kept MTC in the forefront in providing affordable mobile broadband services and value added services that enabled our consumer to participate positively in the growth of Namibia’s economy. Our strive for innovation is achieved through delivering a strategy with a simple focus of delivering value to the consumer, at the same time giving them a unique experience.

Agility is a simple tool instilled on all our platforms. This is to ensure that our IT infrastructure is agile as much as it can to meet the needs of our customer and allow for any requirements or changes in consumer behaviour, creating a personal offering of our digital services.

How successful has the 081-EVERY-1 project been since its inception and how vital is it to MTC’s long-term objectives?

The Project was not only necessitated to build network towers, but also to expand 3G coverage to rural areas, which necessitated the expansion of the Transmission Network. With Transmission expansion, MTC will have amble capacities to offer different technologies as Rural LTE. To date, the expansion led to an increased rural 3G coverage by 401 sites spread across Namibia. This part of the Project really enabled our 081 Customers to have data convenience.

As of the sites build, Phase 1 of 081Every1 project planned to build 85 network towers country wide, 37 of these towers are already on air and 48 are in progress. With the building of new sites for coverage MTC will be at a

position to drive the fight against digital divide and remove the inconveniences of our 081 Customer from having to drive long distances just to have access to information and most importantly to unlock opportunities that will enable communities to participate in other economic activities and other service providers to have efficient means of communication.

The above, is a shared commitment from MTC Shareholders to contribute to the nations broadband targets as set in the HPP, NDP5 and Vision 2030, by increasing rural network coverage and fast internet access.

What, in your eyes, are the qualities that every good leader should have?

An enabler of collaboration is top on my list. If you can get all types of minds, techies the creatives, to work together and you are half way there. But to get people to work with you you need to be honest, have integrity, and be a champion of accountability.

Is there sufficient competition in terms of technology locally to propel MTC to the next step of technological advancement or is MTC against its own standards in this regard?

MTC technological advancement is never about competition, but the value we give to our customers. However, the competitiveness of the ICT sector has forever been pushing us to be innovative and bring in services that either are the best or on par not only with Namibia but on a continental level as well. MTC technological advancement is guided by four principles:

• customer obsession rather than competitor focus, • passion for innovation, • commitment to operational excellence, • Moreover, long-term thinking.

MTC has been on the forefront making sure Namibia is recognized as an excellent operator because of how well we react to global technological trends locally.

What role do you see MTC playing in curbing Namibia’s digital divide over the next decade?

MTC leading the ICT sector in Namibia is by defacto looked at as the enabler for universal access and services, through this our initiatives such as the 081Evey1 with the drive to provide both “voice and broadband access for all” is a personal drive for MTC. MTC’s simple strategic is to follow through the Namibian country's development programme Harambee which is an action plan towards prosperity for all. “No one must be left out” of the digital drive for a knowledge society. Our digital transformation strategy is driven to continue rolling out digital services, increasing data traffic and making broadband services affordable for all and usable for the right social and economic reasons.




Chief Financial OfficerMr. Thinus Smit

EXECUTIVE PROFILEThinus Smit is the Chief Financial Officer at MTC, having recently served as the organization’s Chief Executive Officer (CFO) in an acting capacity between February 2017 and June 2019.

He joined MTC in August 2001 as General Manager of Finance responsible for the Financial and Human Resources departments. As CFO, he is responsible for financial control and reporting, procurement, accounts receivable, revenue assurance, risk and fraud as well as the warehouse and distribution of revenue generating and technical stock.

Prior to this, he was Manager Finance at TransNamib after completing his articles at KPMG Namibia.

He holds Baccalaureus Competationis and Honors Baccalaureus Competationis quali cations from

the University of Orange Free State, a CTA Certi cate in Theory of Accounting and is a Chartered

Accountant in both South Africa and Namibia.

In 2011 he won the MTC Leader of the Year accolade.

Additionally, Smit also chairs the board of NMC Medical Aid Fund.



How does MTC ensure a balance between its fiduciary duty to its stakeholders and the provision of affordable products and services to its clients?

A Coin has two sides, but we cannot spend both sides, the value is one sided only.

It is important to structure the strategic plan of MTC to cater for all share and stakeholders. This is possible with proper planning and strategizing. The Aim of the shareholders can be different from Return on Investment to serving the Namibian population.

The 081Every1 project is a joint effort to fulfill the need from both the MTC customer and shareholder as well as building the MTC Brand.

As said in the question ‘How’ to balance is the important part. Active involvement in all the aspects are of utmost importance. None of the challenges will disappear by not attending to it. Be proactive and consult upfront with all stakeholders and structure a balance to ensure that at the end of the period the fiduciary duties and the customer needs will have been achieved. As per the MTC vision statement: “To be the best digital enabler that meets customer needs.”

How does the recently introduced Fiber Optic Network for businesses fit into MTC’s corporate strategy?

As per the mission statement: “To improve the lives of our customers through innovative digital solutions and highly-skilled human capital” The Fibre Optic Network will assist MTC to achieve the total enabler to the customer. Important to understand the need of the customer and especially on the data demand side, Fibre will be the one building block that will assist to achieve proper customer experience. The question was always: Fibre or no Fibre.

How does MTC maintain its market leadership in the ever-changing landscape of telecommunications?

To strive and achieve the customers demand. The brand is well-known as identifies being Namibian and people love it. It is important not to be arrogant about it, but humble and to maintain the focus on service to the customer. Important is to be innovative and on the front edge of technology and product offering. MTC can only maintain its leadership with the following: Innovation, Customer centricity, Stakeholder inclusivity and Integrity.A leader can only exist in the future by creating proper customer experience from first discussions until the end. MTC will cherish the relationship of each of the 2 million customers. Each one is important and form part of the 081 nation.

Where is the risk and how is it mitigated?

The Risks in the industry, to an operator such as MTC, are twofold:The failure to adopt new routes to innovation. This boils down to the traditional Telco’s who will not exist in the future, if they do not reposition themselves. It’s important for a Telco to be open for new generation of services demanded by the customer and the skill set is required to deliver it. To mitigate this R&D should form an important part of the company’s strategic plan. The failure to realize the role of the communication provider in the industry’s ecosystem. The entering of the OTT players resulted in disruption in the industry. These players are likely to create and stimulate customer demand scenarios in years to come. No being part thereof can possibly result in company being left out.

How do you foresee the growth in terms of MTC’s financial performance over the next decade?

The traditional revenue streams will be in existence on a smaller scale and eventually disappear. Important is to offer as to what the demand of the customer is and to ensure return on the customer investment. As mentioned above, it is imperative to be part of the ecosystem and sometimes taking the lead.

As a leader, how do you get the best out of those under your supervision?

A leader is a person that leads his team whilst recognizing the importance of respect towards those. It’s important to lead during the good times as well as the bad ones. My ultimate goal is to be honest and transparent with the team and showing trust by delegation.

A very important factor for me is the I in this relationship. This I needs to be non-existence. I did not achieve, but we achieved. Leaders pride themselves regarding the legacy they leave behind vs the team that achieved the legacy. The leader has a team.

Positive attitude change lives. This does not mean to ignore troubles and challenges in life, but to tackle them with an open mind. Your perspective can make a difference in the world. Important is to keep a positive attitude in difficult times and not to drain energy levels from ones team.

How to get the best out of those in summary. Trust, respect and promoting teamwork versus the I factor or personal agendas!


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Chief Human Capital and Corporate AffairsMr. Tim Ekandjo

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grow in their professional and personal lives over the years intobecoming good corporate citizens is an excellent indicator. Because we are mindful that we operate in communities across the country, the smiles we bring on their faces when they experience the MTC brand is an important indicator, whether this is through sports, arts and culture, education or health. What are your personal philosophies on leadership?

Leadership for me is getting the best out of yourself first, and inspiring others to do the same but by offering direction and inspiration to allow others to reach their full potential.

Who are some of the corporate leaders who have inspired you over the course of your career and what tools will you use to replicate this inspiration to those who wish to follow in your footsteps?

There is an old man called Tate Indongo in Luderitz, I bumped into him on my way from the bank after a dreadful meeting with the Bank Manager who declined my study loan when I wanted to pursue my studies. He offered to pay for my studies despite me offering him any collateral by simply believing in my dream. Those are the leaders I remember and will forever cherish. From that very day I made a commitment to myself that I will help as many people on the way, and that I will share the little resources I have to help those less proviledged than me, because it doesn’t mean their dreams are smaller than mine. I was also inspired by selfless leaders like Mr Francis Kawana, my former HR Boss at Seaflower and exemplary leaders like Willie Mokgahtle (Shell Namibia) and Miguel Geraldes my former MD at MTC. Through them I learned the true meaning of compassion and leading with a purpose.

Where are the areas of improvement - both organizational and personal?

Everyday presents me with an opportunity to learn new things. The cycle is never complete, and no area in my life is pregnant enough to stop learning. I learn so many new things from taxi drivers, cleaners, ordinary man and women in the streets because the University of Life provides one with the best education.

Having recently been awarded the 100 Global Human Resources Heroes Award, what does this say about MTC and its commitment towards human capital development?

Our commitment to people development has always been top priority. I will be the first to admit that we are not perfect at it, nor have we ever been declared the best company to work for, but we continually strive to find better ways and reasons why our Ambassadors will never look beyond MTC, because MTC is home to all of us. The prestigious award is not a reflection of me, but our collective commitment to people development notjust at MTC but nationally as well.

What tools do you use to ensure corporate governance at the Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC)?

The most effective way to ensure compliance to sound corporate governance principles is not always policies and tools, but culture built over many years which becomes a way of life by all employees in the manner in which they talk, think, approach their work, and most importantly how we do business. Good governance can only successfully be achieved by good employees, the secret therefore lies in corporate culture. How is growth characterised at MTC, with specific reference to human resources and corporate affairs?

This might be hard to believe, but we measure our growth not really by the growing number of subscribers or revenue, but by how well we have managed to deliver on why we are in business in the first place, how well we have made the connection and to what extend we have managed to change people’s lives socially, economically and otherwise. Our employees, also referred to as “MTC Ambassadors” are central tour strategy, and seeing them

EXECUTIVE PROFILETim Ekandjo is a Human Capital expert who serves as the Chief Human Capital and Corporate Affairs Officer at the Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC), a position he has held since 2010.

Ekandjo has also held Human Resources (HR) management portfolios at Shell and Seaflower Whitefish Corporation, but has also worked for Cape Town-based Safmarine, Sanlam as well as the First National Bank of Namibia.

Academically, Ekandjo holds a Mini MBA in Telecommunications, a Masters in Business Leadership from the University of South Africa, a B-Tech Honours and National Diploma in Human Resources Management and is currently pursuing a Masters Degree in Business Strategy.

In addition to his role at MTC, Ekandjo has also served as a director on the boards of Air Namibia, The Motor Vehicle Accident Fund, as well as Team Namibia.

Among other accolades, Ekandjo has been accorded the 100 Global HR Heroes Award (2019), the HR Africa HR Leadership Award (2014) by the World Human Resources Conference and Congress respectively, along with the HR Leader and Achievers Award (2012) by the Indian African HR Partnership Summit. He also serves as the first President and Founder of the Institute of People Management of Namibia.

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Head of Corporate Legal ServicesMrs. Patience Kanalelo


What does the role of MTC’s Chief Corporate Legal Services entail?

MTC operates in a highly regulated and competitive environment. In this regard, the Legal and Regulatory department liaise with the regulatory bodies to ensure conducive business operations.

The role is two-fold, firstly legal services and secondly regulatory affairs. For both roles, it is to ensure that MTC is compliant to the laws applicable to it; to advise the business on legal and regulatory matters and to provide legal support/ protection to the business.

The role includes influencing (by giving input) amendments to legislation and ICT policies in a manner that evolves the industry, but also in protection of MTC.

From a legal standpoint, what challenges are unique to the telecommunications industry in general and MTC specifically and how can these be addressed to attain the desired objectives?

As stated above, we operate in a highly regulated and competitive environment. Promoting fair competition is one of the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia’s (CRAN’s) mandate. This mandate, however, finds itself misinterpreted at times to protect the needs of “small” operators, the resulting effect of which is to the

EXECUTIVE PROFILEPatience Kanalelo is a senior and seasoned legal practitioner holding a LLB (Hons) degree from Rhodes University and has fifteen (15) years’ experience as an admitted legal practitioner.

She has vast experience in the telecommunication industry, spreading over ten years ranging from serving as external counsel and executive management of the two (2) largest Telcos in the country. Her further experience ranges in the fields of Corporate Governance, Corporate Law, Commercial Law, Labour Law, Civil and Criminal litigation.

She has held various positions of trust, with previous directorships held in Namibia and SADC.

detriment of the end-user/customer. Protection of new entrant operators vis a vis the customer’s needs should not be a consideration, in my view.

An example of such a misinterpretation is the issuance of 23 comprehensive telecommunications licenses to date, resulting in the provision of essentially the same range of services by all these licensees. The issued licenses do not correspond with the available spectrum for all the licensees to effectively compete and provide services to the consumers.

In my opinion, the Regulator should formulate a strategy or road map of the telecommunication industry. This strategy and/or road map should comprehensively consider Namibia’s geography and population to determine what number of operators would be required to effectively and efficiently service the industry. Thereafter, the process in terms of which operating licenses are issued should be re-evaluated and be based on the availability of spectrum licenses. Further, operation licenses should have service conditions from the onset. I think this will create structure and consistency to the industry and effective performance from the operators, to ultimately serve the best interest of the consumer.

How would you rate the regulation of Namibia’s telecommunications industry? Would you say it is conducive for growth?

CRAN is a relatively young Regulator, established in 2011. I would say it’s still going through growing pains. It has managed to achieve a lot within this short period though.

How do you ensure efficiency at MTC?

MTC is a very mature company, with well-established processes. All employees understand their duties and contribution to the bigger picture. From the Legal Departments perspective, all business units comply with the laws that govern MTC and seek appropriate advice when it requires.

If there were one aspect in Namibia’s corporate sector that you could change, what would that be?

For all leaders to exercise integrity and accountability in their respective entities.

What would you like to have achieved by the end of your tenure at MTC?

1. To aid MTC in reaching greater heights.2. To have aided in the growth of the

telecommunications regulatory environment.

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Acting Chief Commercial OfficerMr. Andre de Jager



Andre de Jager joined MTC in 1998 as a Systems engineer, going on to work as the Manager of Services and then the General Manager of Product Solutions before his current role.

De Jager holds an Masters in Business Administration (MBA) through the Maastricht School of Management and has contributed to various facets of the organisation’s growth, including the launch of the LTE in 2012, as well as MTC’s full-on Enterprise Data Warehouse System.

EXECUTIVE PROFILE


In the simplest terms possible, what are the duties of the Chief Commercial Officer at MTC?

One of the main responsibilities is the formulation of the commercial strategy within MTC, in line with our Vision and Mission, with the aim to drive business growth, increase market share and investigate new revenue stream opportunities.

This then flows into the activation of the strategy and setting out action plans via the various departments within the commercial department. The main departments within Commercial in MTC are Customer Care (CallCentre), Marketing, Sales (MobileHomes and our Key accounts department), Distribution (maintaining relationships with our dealers) and Product Solutions (This include Product Development and Value Added Services).

We recently established a new department, Enterprise Services, the focus of which is to rollout the new Fibre, Cloud and PBX products and services to our customer base. My main aim is to support my dynamic team in designing the various action plans that will help us achieve our strategy and together with them keep track of the progress of the progress on this.

The CCO is also responsible for the revenue budget at MTC, to ensure that MTC delivers the innovative products, services and customer experience. In order for customer experience to be great, every interaction at every customer touch point must be exceptional and together with the rest of the Executive Committee, my responsibility is to move MTC from strength to strength.

How do you ensure that MTC remains ahead in the provision of innovative products and services to its clients?

One way of defining innovation is that it involves deliberate application of information, imagination and initiative in deriving greater or different values from resources.

In the global village, where we operate today, I believe one should not just look at the industry we are part of, but one should look further. What are other industries doing? Can one adopt, with a few changes, learn from the industry as a whole, not just ICT? There are various conferences throughout the year and I have had the privilege to attend some of them, the Mobile World Congress, the biggest telecommunications event in the year is a worthwhile event to attend. On our local shores, we have the annual AfricaCom event that takes place in South Africa towards the end of each year.

In today’s Internet-driven community, one is easily swamped and even bombarded with information (information overload). You need to have the ability to separate the information that will help you build the future, from the information that wants your attention, but that

will not have any future benefit, either personal or for your business.

Imagination I believe is one of the key tools that one should have in order to drive innovation. One should be able to imagine the future, or at least part of the future. One can use the "Imagine if we do this or that" to me breaks down the barriers.

One needs the initiative to pursue and continue to investigate what services we have not offered to customers. A recent Trivia campaign comes to mind, (where) one of my staff members had this idea of bringing content and this type of campaign into the market.

For MTC, I try to stimulate these three areas in my staff, these 3 areas combined is what make MTC a success, and I believe will take us into the future. One note on this, Information, Imagination and Initiative do not have to be all with one person or even with one department, you just need to guide these individual attributes in a group to trigger the next innovative idea.

What tools do you use to ensure the execution of MTC’s commercial strategy?

I can break down the tools into two focus areas, one is the financial figures, and the second are independent surveys based on the perception of customers about MTC.

We make use of tools to track the individual action plans and from there it flows into meeting our strategy and will give us details on our execution (progress on the strategy). When designing the action plans, these are broken down into the various key performance indicators (KPIs), for the department, as well as for individuals. In some areas, these are very clear indictors, revenue, EBITDA and Market Share to name a few. These are financial and more easily tracked.

When it gets to the important area of our customer experience and the perception of our customers about MTC, we make use of various tools such as our CVM (Customer Value Management) that is an overall survey done on MTC as a whole by an external entity. We compare these results year-on-year in order to understand where we did better than before and indicate which areas we need to focus on more.

How integral is the Call Centre to the operations of MTC?

I believe that each and every department plays their respective role in the company. Each is a piece of the puzzle called MTC, but let’s quickly discuss the Call Centre as an integral part of MTC.

Most of our customers view it as a number to call when they are experiencing challenges, and this was the main aim of



When it gets to the important area of our customer experience and the perception of our customers about MTC, we make use of various tools such as our CVM (Customer Value Management) that is an overall survey done on MTC as a

whole by an external entity.


the call centre when we started. This, however, changed and I believe will continue to change. This is now a contact centre, not just for complaints, but more of a knowledge repository to share details with our customers.

We use the call centre to contact customers when they are due for a new contract. We use the same staff to contact customers that took part in our campaigns to inform them the they are a winner and to make arrangements on how they can claim their prizes. This has become an information platform for our customers. When we launch new products, campaigns, specials etc, customers make contact with us in order to gain a better understanding or gain more insight, on the new products, campaigns or specials. They were instrumental when we launched the Trivia campaign in December with the various content subscription offerings. These are new services and some customers wanted more information on how this works.

We need to keep in mind that not everyone is fully proficient in English and that English is not his or her first language. In our call centre, we can assist our customers in other languages in order to explain campaigns and render support better.

In terms of your leadership style, do you see yourself more as a disciplinarian or somebody who lets those

working under him learn through their mistakes, and how important is this approach to the bigger picture?

I did my thesis on Leadership, and I believe then the one area that was discussed in length is "Situational Leadership". The idea on this is that a leader will adjust their style dependent on the situation at hand and the staff involved. We work in a fast-changing environment, and we work with people that are exposed to the same. I believe people should learn from mistakes - not necessarily their own, but we also run a business, and there are certain rules, guidelines and principles that need to be followed. Every situation will give a leader the opportunity to grow and employees sometimes grow by pruning and other times by watering.

I believe an employee should leave your office as a better

person, either for today, or for the future. This question takes us back to the Information overload. In the big picture, the better I can grow my staff, the more they will trust in their own abilities, they will have courage to expand and believe in their imagination, and I believe this will cultivate their initiative. All in all, this will lead to a better MTC, and a better person for Namibia, should they ever want to leave MTC. We as leaders are not just developing people for here and now, we should develop our people to be able to flourish in the global village.

As a long-serving member of MTC, when you one day look back at your career, what would you like to have achieved at the organization?

I joined MTC many years ago. I just wanted to be part of the company. From a career point of view; Yes, I want to be part of the Executive team and that I was instrumental in making a positive change for MTC and Namibia.

On a personal note, have fun, the LG Cookie and Samsung Star adverts were fun. I like taking part in MTC Interact, etc. We spend more than eight hours a day at MTC, so you have to enjoy the time. I want to look back, I want to meet up with my staff and hear them say they achieved more than what they hoped for and somewhere in that journey, that I played a positive role.

Baronice Hans was appointed Bank Windhoek’s Managing Director Designate on 1 February 2016 and took over the role in full capacity from Christo de Vries in July of the same year.

Baronice, a Chartered Accountant by profession, completed her undergraduate studies through the University of South Africa and also obtained an Honours Degree in Accounting Science from the University of Cape Town. Previously, Baronice was employed at Standard Bank Namibia and held the position of Executive Director and Head Personal and Business Banking. She won the accolade of Namibian Businesswoman of the Year in 2015/2016. She also served on a number of boards in diverse disciplines such as Telecommunications, Power Distribution, Non-banking Financial Regulation, Life Assurance, Asset Management and Fishing and Marine Resources.

In her capacity as Managing Director, Baronice leads the Bank in all spheres of business and chairs various committees and boards. She currently serves on the Bank Windhoek Board of Directors, Capricorn Asset Management Board of Directors and is a member Capricorn Group’s Executive Committee.

EXECUTIVE PROFILE

Managing DirectorMrs. Baronice Hans


training future leaders we will retain talent in the company and create talent and skills depth.

How has adverse nature of the local economy impacted Bank Windhoek? Is this specific to your organisation or does it extend to the commercial banking sector at large?

The economic downturn has an impact on all businesses in Namibia including the financial sector. We have experienced this through our clients and other stakeholders and it has had an impact on the Bank. However, I believe that with decisive leadership we will, together with our clients, be able to weather the storm. We have a very strong relationship based approach to banking. I maintain that our proactive stance in this regard has not only positioned us well in terms of responding to these challenges, but has helped with identifying and realising opportunities that present themselves even in these challenging times. Our partnership with our clients is long-term and therefore, what is of paramount importance to us, is remaining relevant and tuned into the evolving needs of our clients, irrespective of the economic cycle.

What are the advantages of leading a fully Namibian commercial banking institution?

The greatest advantage is the speed and relevance of the decision-making process. What is also very rewarding is that we can tailor our banking solutions specifically around the Namibian client at the same time as factoring in global trends. We are a local bank that operates on global standards across customer segments ranging from Corporate and Institutional Banking to banking SME’s and individuals.

Having now settled into the role of Managing Director, what do you view differently now, than you did when you were first appointed?

Banking remains an exciting industry to work in. I joined Bank Windhoek just as the economic downturn started in 2016. Although the journey thus far has been challenging, I believe that my experience in banking and business overall gave me a solid foundation to take on whatever challenges are thrown my way. I have grown tremendously both personally and professionally. As previously stated I was attracted to Bank Windhoek because it is a well-run, fully Namibian-owned, successful and entrepreneurial business. A business I can now proudly say I am part of and that I can continue contributing towards and shaping. My Executive Management Team are a source of strength and motivation to me as we work collaboratively to achieve results, but we also have fun.

Bank Windhoek became the first commercial bank to introduce local languages to automated teller machines (ATMs). Does this exemplify the culture of innovation at the institution? And how important is this culture to organisational growth?

Our project of introducing eight local languages at ATMs is an indication of Bank Windhoek’s pluralistic approach to our customers. Not only did it show our customers that we speak their language, but that we are committed to building a sustainable relationship with them. The introduction of additional languages was welcomed greatly by Namibians, but we did not expect that the impact would extend beyond our borders as an example of inclusivity and innovation.

Capacity building is one of the areas that seem integral to the operations of Bank Windhoek. Could you elaborate on the initiatives used to capacitate especially young employees with leadership qualities in the organisation?

With 64% of Bank Windhoek’s employees being Millennials and now also Zillenials or Generation Z, Bank Windhoek actively participates in the development of our employees. Various initiatives have been launched to cultivate our existing talent and attract highly skilled talent. Our NextGen Board was launched with the aim of giving a platform to our Millennials to contribute to the growth of the company by getting meaningful insights on how they see things but also involving and exposing them to all levels of the organisation. Our People Development Centre trains employees on a continuous basis on matters across a range of disciplines. We have also introduced tailor made leadership management programmes in conjunction with the University of Stellenbosch Business School for Executive Development. These were launched to further develop people leadership, strategic and analytical skills for our leaders. Bank Windhoek has a clear succession planning policy and process in place. We believe that by

I would like to build a team that excels and then leads the future but that who are humble and have exceptional character. A team that is characterised by humility, integrity, innovation and collaborative excellence.


My husband and children provide me with immense joy and pride. Through experiencing my children grow up I am inspired by how we are never too old to learn from them. I also have a great support system consisting of aunts, uncles, my parents and bothers and cousins. Of course my beloved dogs cannot go unmentioned. On a serious note, I strive to be the best follower of Christ, mother and wife that I can be!

Who are some of the leaders, either local or international, that have influenced you positively over the course of your career?

I have had the privilege of amazing leaders in my career that have inspired me to be more than I thought I could ever be. I would especially like to single out Dr. Leake Hangala and Mr. Lincoln Mali, as well as our visionary and commercially brilliant founding member of Bank Windhoek and Capricorn Group, Mr. Koos Brandt.

What excites you about the future of Bank Windhoek?

The possibilities are endless. There is also a simple brilliance to Capricorn Group that I find fascinating.

Tell us a bit about the Women in Business financial solution. Does this service resonate with you on a personal level, taking into account that you are one of very few females leading banking institutions in the country?

Yes it does. I’ve have great empathy with the women in our communities trying to build a successful business in a predominantly male-dominated market. This offering is therefore a very strong statement by Bank Windhoek that we are there to support our female entrepreneurs and business owners. We understand what it takes to balance running a business and managing a personal life, like raising a family and supporting a household. This offering speaks to these challenges women are facing and will hopefully help create some very successful female business owners.

When you one day look back at your tenure at Bank Windhoek, what would you like to have achieved?

I would really like to have left a legacy that positions the Bank strategically for the future, by responding to the forces that will and are already shaping banking and financial services. Our existence both today and in the future must revolve around being customer centric and market relevant. Most importantly I would like to build a team that not only excels and then leads the future but who are humble and have exceptional character. A team that is characterised by humility, integrity, innovation and collaborative excellence.

You have always championed God as a catalyst for your incredible career in the banking sector, what are your other sources of inspiration?


Journeying togetherto realise your dreams with Corporate and Institutional Banking.

Building lasting relationships, because yours is a relationship worth banking on.

www.bankwindhoek.com.na


EXECUTIVE PROFILEMr. Abraham Nehemia serves as the Chief Executive Officer of The Namibia Water Corporation (NamWater) since 03 January 2019. He has a rich background in water affairs and has tenured at institutions such as the National Planning Commission as well as the Directorate of Water Affairs under the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry. He also served as the Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry prior to his appointment at NamWater.

Academically, he holds a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Maastricht, Netherlands earned in 2005, in addition to a Masters in Water and Environmental Management from the University of Loughborough, UK (1998) as well as a Political Science Diploma (1982).

His involvement in international water issues, especially in the SADC region, has included contribution to development of river basin organizations such as the Zambezi commission, the Kunene Permanent Joint Technical Commission (PJTC), ORASECOM and OKACOM. He has been a member of SADC’s Waters Resources Technical Committee since 2007.

He also played a major role in the development and operationalization of the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) and is one of the few founding members of the AMCOW-TAC technical advisory committee still serving in the organization.

Chief Executive OfficerMr. Abraham Nehemia


Having recently assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer at NamWater, what excites you about your new role?

AN: The first thing that excites me is the job itself. Having been in the water sector all my professional life, I feel like I’m just changing seats. Coming here and to still be dealing with water, that excites me a lot.

The other thing that excites me is the people. Joining a new team is always exciting, as you have to know them, understand them and believe in them because for one to achieve your objectives, you must believe in your people. The stakeholders are another part that excites me because even though they are the same stakeholders that I was dealing with, now it will be from a different perspective. Now I get to engage these stakeholders and understand their needs and make sure that I go to bed thinking about how to justify or find the actions to take to satisfy their needs, so this is quite exciting.

Given the strategic importance of NamWater to Namibia, what leadership qualities do you use to ensure that best practices in the different departments of the company are adhered to?

AN: In the practice of leadership, the one thing you have to ensure is to instill a sense of teamwork in your employees. It is the first thing that I have been trying to put into practice and see how we can work together to reach our objective because if we have one objective then we all need to be pulling in that directionand it has been my message on a daily basis to make sure that this happens.

The other thing is really to ensure that people are disciplined enough, which is not an easy thing. Through all the processes of management meetings and engagements, we try to make sure that people are disciplined and this is something that should come from the people themselves. However, it can only come out if somebody is really trying to get it out. In the process of making sure they understand this, the aspect of communication comes into play. It is important for the company policies to be communicated as well as what is allowed and what is not allowed in the company. In that regard, people will know what they can and cannot do.

The other aspect is integrity. We have a company that has to provide public services, and in the provision of these public services, people look at you as a reputable company, so if your people are out there doing all sorts of things, where they don’t think that; ‘I work for NamWater’ before doing them, or while wearing NamWater attire. Therefore, I have been trying to make them understand that individually and as a collective, they are the ambassadors of both this company and the Namibian Government as this is a government company. Showing the aspect of integrity is therefore vital.

I also focus on the aspect of inspiring. I have to inspire my workers to have the right level of morale to be committed to the work of the company because it is not an easy thing to be responsible for water. Water is not electricity where if it is cut then the people just say that maybe NamPower or Nored or Cenored is busy with something else, but with water everybody will come out immediately and say; we don’t have water. Therefore we have the responsibility to be a company of serious integrity in all that we are doing.

How is success measured at NamWater?

We measure ourself through the approach of a balanced scorecard. The four quadrals of the scorecard look at the financial aspects. We are a company that operates on a cost-recovery basis. Therefore, we have to make sure that we have to do the best we can in terms of collecting fincances when we supply water, because it is only when we collect money from the drop that we have supplied that we will be able to supply the next drop and if the company fails in that aspect, then soon or later, we will be going to mother government to ask for a bail-out but at NamWater we do not want to see that happening. We are doing everything possible to make sure that we measure our best and are doing our collections and that people have water at all times.

The other aspect is customer satisfaction. We measure ourselves by checking what the nation is saying. We listen to the radios and check newspapers to see what people are saying about NamWater. This enables us to then strategize and see how we can address these aspects that people are bringing up. We have a communications department where every day they should be able to read newspapers and listen to the media and go onto social media to make sure we measure ouselves as to how we are doing in terms of that.

For the internal processes, we look at resource management as NamWater has a lot of assets. Therefore, we must make sure that these assets, financial, human and so on, are there so that the company can sustainably deliver its mandate and that requires a lot of internal work and auditing to make sure that everything is in order.

Finally, there is the aspect of talent and technical knowledge development. We have, especially recently, realised that we are getting it tough in ensuring that we have the necessary skills. We have put up our own vocational training centre at Okahandja, where we are training our own artisans and mechanical people, as well as for other companies. We have bursary systems where we are sending our people to schools, but unfortunately they come and go. Sometimes you feel that you are here to train for others, but that is the reality. That is an area where we measure whether we are doing well, although there are circumstances set that are beyond our control.


How far has the research into desalination gone, in terms of implementing it as a mitigating factor for the perrenial drought conditions as they relate to NamWater?

In terms of research, NamWater had already put up a plant at Swakopmund that tested the feasibility of this, including the quality of water and whether it is treatable, and after that we started with the implementation where we put up tenders to put up a desalination plant. Although it has not quite materialised up to now, we have a private desalination plant owned by Orano, near Swakomund.However, as we speak we have an ongoing study that is looking at the feasibility of setting up a desalination plant. We hope in the next 10 to 12 months, that study should be completed and then we can move on to its actual construction.

Could you tell us a bit about the strategic importance of NamWater’s five business units?

NamWater’s core business is to supply bulk water. That is the purpose and the reason why this business is in existence. These are the units that are the core of making sure that this business moves forward. Others are support units to make sure that we support these [business] units to do their job. If you look at their role and their importance; The north-west unit for example deals with the provision of water to almost half the country’s population with the four northern regions [Oshana, Oshikoto, Ohangwena and Omusati] and for them it is a big responsibility on their shoulders. Firstly, to make sure that water runs from Calueque in Angola, down to Oshakati for distribution, and then they have to maintain that infrastructure, the canals, the pumps, to make sure that they are up to date. So, they really have a huge responsibility.

In the North-East, which looks at the two Kavango Regions and Zambezi, there, we have rivers forming the borders with our neighbours, and for us it is a matter of ensuring that that water is treated and distributed, but we also have to look at ground-water inland as we have to use all the available resources.

We then have the Central Business unit, which has a huge responsibility because it must make sure that Windhoek does not run dry and that is a serious challenge to look at how we can ensure that Von Bach, Omatako and the water supply from Berg Aukas has to reach Windhoek and it is quite a challenging thing, but we are working together with the others to make sure that we look at that. The City of Windhoek is augmenting our supply with their boreholes and reclamation plants to make sure that the city has water. We also have Okahandja and the airport and all these places that are in the central area that we have to look at. We also have Gobabis that is dependent on ground water and the surface dams have dried up, so there is no water in those dams, so are supplying them with ground water already [as] lucky enough we had that

Innovation is an integral part of the growth of any organization; how big a part does it play in the operations of NamWater?

NamWater has a division on Research and Development and its role is to look at aspects that relate tothe company’s operations in terms of technology. The division looks at what is happening around the world in terms of desalination collection and wheel pumps and all these kinds of things. Our young guys, as this unit is made up of a lot of young people, from the universities and they look at different aspects, whether its electrical or machenical and come up with proposals and these things can be taken up at university level so that they can be expanded further. They work together with the universities in terms of this research. We are really putting a lot of effort on that aspect, to make sure that at the end of the day we are innovative enough in terms of improving the provision of water. Regarding water quality, we also have to innovate because at the end of the day any single bacteria that may be found in the water can make you to be accountable to the nation.

Shortly after assuming your new role as Chief Executive Officer at NamWater, the Head of State declared a State of emergency relating to drought. How have the drought conditions impacted NamWater’s ability to fulfill its mandate?

I [jokingly] said when I moved into this office, I was escorted in by Mr. drought, but that is a common phenomenon in Namibia. We have been experiencing these droughts even when I was at the ministry. For NamWater as such, our role is actually to supply bulk water and to supply bulk water you must get huge amounts of water from the sources. Our water sources in Namibia is the safest water which is the rivers or ground water, or possibly the sea as we are moving on to desalination now. The impact that we have as a result of drought, particularly with the ground water, is immense. If we look at the dams for example, most of them are below 50%, with the exception of Naute, some are even at zero as we speak. This is a problem for us because clients who open their taps at home or at school, don’t think of the Von Bach Dam or so, they only see the water and expect water to come out because it is NamWater who should be able to get that water into the system and bring it to the end user. We have serious problems with surface water, as well as groud water. We have schemes that are ground-water based and boreholes are drying up, so we are really working on strategies to see how we can fill the taps in those areas where we know there are schemes where the water that we have will not take us to the next rainy season. It is really a serious impact as we speak, but we are working hard together with the technical Committee of Experts, which is the Cabinet committee on water security, to look at how we can mitigate the effects of the drought and ensure that we reach the next rainy season. It is a major challenge but we are working on it.


system in place before-hand. As if we knew that it was going to run dry this year, so they are looking into that.Then we have th Southern Business Unit, where we also have mines like Skorpion Zinc, Rosh Pinah and the others and also the schemes like Aussenkehr and all those. They are also pulling with difficulties, because groud-water in the south is a problem as it is very limited and rainfall is also limited. If it doesn’t rain at all then it is even worse. For places like Karasburg, Grunau and Aus, it’s very bad. We are struggling to make sure that we reach the next rainy season. For Luderitz we have Koichab Pan, where we get water from and this resource is going down due to limited rainfall, so the business units are really looking at that.

Then we have the final one, the Coastal Business Unit, where we have a high demand from mines such as the Husab, Langer Heinrich and many others and the coastal towns of Walvis Bay plus the fishing factories. That is what our business units are looking at actually, to make sure that all our customers get satisfaction in terms of the provision of water.

As a leader, how much importance do you place on capacity building?

Capacity building in most cases when one gets a lot of experience they put it on top of their qualifications and one feels everything is in place. In most cases however, we forget that we also have to leave one day and if you don’t prepare the young people to take over, then you are actually killing the nation. For me, as I said, even though we train people and some of them leave, that does not discourage me because I know that even if they leave, whether they go to City of Windhoek or NamPower or to mines, they are going to serve the Namibians. I don’t have an ill-feeling. All we have to do is to ensure that we carry on to build capacity because for me the most important capacity that is required is on the job training, where we are using the more experienced engineers to coach the younger ones because even if you get five degrees, if you don’t come and practice, you will still have not qualified so there fore the senior guys are always instructed and directed to look into the capacity of young ones and make sure they have both the necessary qualifications and the experience.

Having recently had some regional induction tours, what did you learn from these?

As I said, although I’ve been in the water sector, I found it a bit different when looking at stakeholders because when you talk to Governors and they tell you to make sure that their towns have water, while last year we were talking about ‘that village’ it becomes now a different story. It’s quite exciting to merge the two because now you have the full picture of the region and the understanding of different needs, now especially that we are more focused on the towns and settlements. Their needs are quite different.

It was a bit easier in terms of planning because when you look at towns and settlements, people are together. When you look at rural areas, you find two houses in the middle of nowehre that need water and there’s no water underground and to bring a pipeline there of 24 kilometers just for two households, that is so expensive, whereas the local authorities, people are together and it’s a matter of really managing the relationships because then here one has to provide the service through others, such as the local authorities and town council. That is what is expected from me and from NamWater to manage. To have a good relationship with these people. In terms of collection and making sure that they get the money from the end users, they are taking the commodity out of our hands and making sure that have to run with it, but at the end of the day, the money has to come back to NamWater, so if you don’t have a good relationship, things will not work and that is only through communication and engagement. I have met a lot of CEOs already of various towns, I’m going to carry on doing that as that is the essence for the relationship to work and believe that we may even enter into several cooperation agreements with some of them to make things happen and provide the necessary support. The one thing that you pick up, especially with the smaller town councils is a lack of capacity, because if you supply water it goes into the pipelines and they are leaking and so on, therefore we are talking to them to make sure that we work with each other to make things happen.

In terms of leadership, who are the leaders, either locally or internationally, that have helped you in the formulation of your own leadership style?

Leadership is something that you transform and cascade a bit to your level. Maybe not at the level where I am now, but we look at great leaders. People such as Dr. Libertina Amathila. I know her from exile and she always leads in a way that she takes you along. They say leadership is doing things through others. Somebody who comes to you and says, I want that done. For her, however, it is more about; “We have to get this done colleagues”. She takes the lead, walking in front and making sure that things happen. Even when she was getting older, while she was the Deputy Prime Minister, you could see that she was everywhere. In Tsumkwe, and many other places on her feet. She really leads and takes people along and goes.

Martin Luther King Jr is another person who came across to me as one who really makes things happen. A person who people stand behind but does not lose focus about what he is trying to achieve. When you have so many people you expect somebody to be giving you ideas about what is good and so on but for him, he had a single focus and he knows that this is what he wants and was able to convince everybody that: Yes, we can! And today America is a different America.



Mr Conrad Mutonga Lutombi is a seasoned business leader who is passionate about building Namibia and contributing to the well-being of its people. Widely regarded as a goal-driven, high performance oriented individual, he believes in the importance of planning, and mobilising teams of talented and skilled people towards goals that will benefit the entire nation. As the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Roads Authority (RA), he has always been committed to ensuring strong leadership, good corporate governance, and accountability and efficiency in the utilisation of resources. Now in his second term as CEO, he aims to drive stakeholder interest and foster relationships with them so that the organisation excels in its mandate of managing a national

road network with a view to achieve a safe and efficient road sector.

Mr Lutombi is a staunch philanthropist who is passionate about giving back to the community to improve their well-being. He is the Patron of Ndoro Memorial Combined School, which is situated approximately 240km west of Katima Mulilo Town along the Trans Zambezi Highway. This school mainly serves the San community living in this area. The community is in dire poverty and most of them depend on social grants.

Chief Executive Officer Mr. Conrad Mutonga Lutombi

EXECUTIVE PROFILE

You were reappointed as RA CEO last year, what are your priorities for your second term?

My main priority for the next 5 years is to keep the state of our road network in a good condition as we continue to build new ones. Our Corporate Strategy focusses on key objectives such as the effective management of the road network as a core responsibility, stakeholder relations and effective service delivery, financial sustainability, Governance and strong leadership as well as strategic human capital enablers. Thus, with the capable staff complement at the RA, we will use this plan to fulfill our mission, which is to manage a safe and efficient national road network to support economic growth.

How did you manage to transform the RA to the level of good standing and credibility it enjoys as we speak?

The RA has crafted a Strategic Plan to enable the organization to determine what it wants to achieve and we also devise measures to monitor and evaluate our progress and performance. This blueprint which is aligned to our Government’s development goals and the Harambee Prosperity Plan provides us with the framework that has facilitated the efficient and sustainable utilization of resources in the delivery of our core functions.In addition, I am very fortunate to serve under a goal oriented and supportive Board that guides us towards achieving our goals. We also have a staff complement of professional who are committed and passionate about making a difference by achieving our set objectives.

Namibia has received accolades for having the best roads in Africa. What does this mean to the average Namibian?

Road infrastructure is one of the sectors of the economy that has contributed tremendously to poverty reduction in our country. Over the years, the RA’s efforts have to some extent, bridged the development gap between the rural and urban communities. The average Namibian has access to good roads and they are linked to all corners of our country-which presents great business opportunities. For the average Namibian, this ranking means taking pride in our achievement and to lend a helping hand in preserving our road network by obeying all traffic rules.

Given that the other SADC countries are not as highly ranked in the development of road infrastructure, what opportunities does this present for Namibia?

Namibia has one of the most efficient ports on the African continent in Walvis Bay and most of our neighbours are landlocked and so we promote inter trade and transboundary movement of goods from one country to the other.

This is a great opportunity to boost our economy because our road infrastructure assists in conveying imported goods from the ports of entry to the consumers as well as to transport finished goods and raw materials from the surrounding areas to the ports of exit. With this, we are not only contributing to the economic growth of the country but the economic potential of SADC as a whole.

What are some of the benefits of having sound road infrastructure? (especially in terms of ease of doing business?)

A reliable and affordable road transport system forms part of the social safety net, enabling trade and employment opportunities in both urban and rural communities since it facilitates the movement of goods and services in all sector of the economy including: tourism, education, health and agriculture among others. It is a fact that road infrastructure plays a key role in the socio-economic development of Namibia.

One main benefit is that our effective and efficient road infrastructure reduces cost and comparative distance between trading partners, thereby increasing trade effectiveness and maximising returns on existing industrial investment and production. It also makes Namibian products competitive on the world market.

In your view, is the Government doing enough to aid the RA with its mandate in roads construction?

Yes, our Government is doing enough to aid the RA with its mandate. We are mindful of the economic downturn and our approach is to do more with less.

How does the economic instability in the country affect your company operations.

The economic slowdown has necessitated our Government to implement prudent fiscal policies. This has resulted in a stoppage of the construction and design works of some new projects. Although these measures have impacted

My main priority for the next 5 years is to keep the state of our road network in a good condition as we continue to

build new ones.


on our performance in terms of the projects which should have been implemented, these prudent fiscal measures in a time like this is the right thing to do. Therefore, we have endeavored to support our Government’s initiative in our spending activities and be part of the solution. Since the beginning of this financial year, we have carried out strict financial auditing of capital road projects to ensure value for money and we have limited spending of our administration budget to value creating activities only.

Is your sector a Chinese domain as some may suggest? How do you manage integration to accommodate the previously disadvantage groups in Namibia?

No, our sector is not a Chinese domain. To accommodate local contractors, the RA makes provision for joint ventures on our capital projects.

Joint ventures between foreign and local companies are beneficial in the sense that Namibian Contractors are given a unique opportunity to get much needed on the job training from more experienced foreign companies. It enhances construction knowledge and skills and local contractors are better equipped for major jobs.In a nutshell, the main objective of this initiative is to build local capacity and skills to avoid reliance on foreign skills in the near future.

How does the RA determine or prioritize the roads that need improvement?

There are established Regional Road Boards across the country, who in consultation with the Regional Governors and Councilors advise the Ministry of Works and Transport, through the Roads Authority, on regional road priorities which eventually gets incorporated in the Medium to Long Term Roads Master Plan.

Other factors that are taken into consideration especially in upgrading the road to bitumen standard are the frequency of traffic on the specific road, safety and maintenance costs. The social aspect also plays a key factor in constructing/upgrading roads for example creating connectivity to schools and hospitals, and other community centres.

What is your view on the notion that Development is only taking place in the northern region of our country?

The perception is not true, major develop is and has taken place in all corners of our country based on the Government priority project list and Medium To Long Road Master Plan.

For example, we are currently busy with the following capital project:

• Windhoek - Okahandja Section 4a in the Khomas and Otjozondjupa Region;

• Windhoek - Hosea Kutako Airport Phase 1 in the Khomas Region;

• Swakopmund - Henties Bay - Uis Phase 1 - Section A in the Erongo and Kunene Region;

• Walvis Bay - Swakopmund Phase 1 (behind the dunes) in the Erongo Region;

• Namalubi-Isize - Luhonono road in the Zambezi Region

We have also completed the following capital projects in the past 10 years, just to mention a few; Gobabis-Amimius road in the Omaheke and Hardap Regions, Rosh Pinah - Oranjemund Road in the Karas Region, Gobabais - Grootfontein road connecting the Omaheke and Otjozondjupa regions, Okahandja - Karibib in Otjozundjupa and Erongo regions, Kamanjab - Omakange in Kunene region, Rundu - Elundu in Okavango and Ohangwena regions and Divundu bridge in Okavango region, the Tsumeb-Katwitiwi Road upgrade in the Oshikoto and Kavango Regions, Three bridges between Mariental and Rehoboth Road in the Hardap Region and Liselo - Linyanti - Kongola - Singalamwe Road in the Zambezi region.

As far as rural accessibility development programme is concerned, our focus is first to provide access roads in areas where the majority of the population are still living long distances from roads. We want to give access to essential services such as hospitals, schools, etc. to all in rural areas. These areas include all the northern and north-east regions including the Omaheke and Kunene Regions. As we make progress in the most affected areas, we will continue with other regions based on their regional road master plans.


Road infrastructure is one of the sectors of the economy that has contributed tremendously to poverty reduction in our country. Over the years, the RA’s efforts have to some extent, bridged the development

gap between the rural and urban communities.

IS ROCK-HARD DEDICATIONIS ROCK-HARD DEDICATIONBEHIND EVERY SMOOTH RIDE

You might not see or hear us, but we're with you: every mile of every journey. Before and after every road is created, the Roads Authority team

works tirelessly to ensure your smooth and safe journey. Please adhere to all traffic rules and regulations. Do not overtake at blind spots.

The life you save could be yours.

Private Bag 12030, Ausspannplatz | Windhoek, Namibia | Tel: +264 61 284 7000

Fax: +246 61 284 7655 | Email: [email protected] | Web: www.ra.org.na



Private Bag 12030, Ausspannplatz | Windhoek, Namibia | Tel: +264 61 284 7000Private Bag 12030, Ausspannplatz | Windhoek, Namibia | Tel: +264 61 284 7000Private Bag 12030, Ausspannplatz | Windhoek, Namibia | Tel: +264 61 284 7000

Fax: +246 61 284 7655 | Email: [email protected] | Web: www.ra.org.naFax: +246 61 284 7655 | Email: [email protected] | Web: www.ra.org.naFax: +246 61 284 7655 | Email: [email protected] | Web: www.ra.org.na





Rosalia Martins-HausikuChief Executive Officer

EXECUTIVE PROFILERosalia Martins-Hausiku is the Chief Executive Officer of the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund, responsible for planning, implementing, developing, integrating and execution of its business strategy, while fulfilling the institution’s mandate.

She serves as the Vice-Chairperson of the University of Namibia (UNAM) Council, member of the Board of Directors of the Namibia Chamber of Commerce (NCCI) as well as the Boards of Letshego Holdings Namibia, Letshego Bank Namibia and the African Leadership Institute (ALI).

She’s currently pursuing a Master of Philosophy in Mentoring & Coaching with the Stellenbosch University’s School of Business, holds a Master’s degree in Business Leadership (MBL) with the UNISA School of Business Leadership, a Master’s degree in Culture, Communication and Media Studies, from the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal and Bachelor’s degree in Media Studies, majoring in Corporate Communications and Sociology from the University of Namibia.

Lukas Ndjamba is the Chief Financial Officer at the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund, having assumed the role in September 2017.

Starting his career in 2003 at KPMG as a Trainee Accountant, Lukas went on to work for CENORED, Namibia Breweries Limited and Namibia Ports Authority in various financial roles before joining the MVA Fund in his current portfolio.

Academically, he holds a B.COMPT Degree from the University of South Africa and has been certified as a Chartered Accountant by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) with the University of Stellenbosch.

Lukas Ndjamba // Chief Financial Officer

Surihe Gaomas-Guchu serves as Chief Corporate Affairs at the Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) Fund, having assumed the position in June 2018.

She previously held the role of Manager Public Relations (PR) and Communication at Standard Bank Namibia for five and a half years prior to joining the Fund. With a wealth of experience in journalism and communication, she worked for organizations such as, New Era Newspaper, Telecom Namibia and she is currently a freelance television news anchor on Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC). She also previously served as the Vice-Chairperson of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Namibia from 2006 to 2007.

Academically, she holds a Masters Degree in International Journalism acquired at the University of Westminster in London, United Kingdom, in addition to a National Diploma in Journalism from Peninsula Technikon in Cape Town, South Africa.

Surihe Gaomas-Guchu // Chief Corporate Affairs

Joelynn Kurz is the Chief Legal Advisor at the MVA Fund, having assumed the role in 2013.

She previously worked as a Legal Advisor in the insurance industry before joining the MVA Fund in 2006 as Legal Assessment Officer. She later got promoted to Legal Advisor in the organization in 2010, a position she held until assuming her current role.

Academically, she holds a BA Law Degree and LLB Degree from the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. She completed her practical training at JTC at the University of Namibia and was admitted as Legal Practitioner on 04 August 2003. She has attained a Management Excellence Programme Certificate from the Rhodes Business School, South Africa and Certificates in Strategic

Leadership Programme Module A, British Council, Botswana & Kenya and Middle Ground Leadership Programme. In addition, she also holds an Executive Development Programme Certificate from the University of Witwatersrand Business School, South Africa. Joelynn is a member of the Law Society of Namibia and Namibia Women Lawyers Association.

Joelynn Kurz // Chief Legal Advisor



Fanuel Uugwanga is the Chief Human Capital at the Fund, having assumed the position in September 2009.

Having joined the Fund in September 2004, Uugwanga served in different roles i.e: Investigation Officer, Manager Claims Investigation, Chief Risk Officer and Chief Business Strategy prior to his current role. Before joining the Fund, he served the Namibian Police Force as Detective in the Commercial Crime Unit and later as Development Planner. He also worked in the banking sector with Bank Windhoek.

Academically, he holds a Master of Law and Business from Bucerius Law School in Germany; Bachelor of Economics from the University of Namibia; Executive Development Programme Certificate from

Wits Business School; Diploma in Criminal Justice and Forensic Investigations from the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. He has also completed the Management Development Programme with the University of Stellenbosch as well as Strategic Leadership Programme with the London Business School in conjunction with the Middleground, UK.

Julius Haikali is the Chief Business Strategy at the Fund.

He previously worked as a Human Resources (HR) professional in both the public and private sectors, having tenured with the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Safety and Security, Office of the Prime Minister as well as the Shoprite Group of Companies.

Academically, he holds a Master’s degree in Administration, Bachelor of Technology degree in Public Management (majoring in HR) from the University of South Africa, diploma in Public Management (majoring in HR) from the Polytechnic of Namibia and has also completed an Executive Management Programme at the University of Witwatersrand (South Africa), in addition to numerous field specific training.

Julius Haikali // Chief Business Strategy

Phillip Nghifitikeko holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Project Management from the University of Stellenbosch, a Master’s Degree in Law and Business from Bucerius Law School in Hamburg and a B-Tech Degree in Marketing from UNISA, as well as a National Diploma in Marketing from the Polytechnic of Namibia. He also completed the Management Development Programme at the University of Stellenbosch, Certificate in Finance (University of Witwatersrand) as well as Senior Management Development Programme at NIPAM.

He has been working for the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund for 14 years at various levels commencing as a Customer Service Officer and now serves as Chief Operations Officer and is the current Chairperson of the Procurement Committee.

Fanuel Uugwanga // Chief Human Capital

Phillip Nghifitikeko // Chief Operations Officer

Adv. Deidré L. Sauls-Deckenbrock (Chairperson)

As a renowned legal practitioner, her core focus is on corporate, commercial and litigation. She holds BA (Law) & LLB degrees from the University of Stellenbosch and an LLM degree in Commercial & Corporate Law (specialisation IP) from the University of London.

Adv. Sauls-Deckenbrock is a court-accredited mediator, who previously served as President of the Law Society of Namibia and has over 24 years’ experience in the public and private arenas as a business and legal professional. As a previously racially disadvantaged Namibian, she is passionate when it comes to creating opportunities for the advancement of committed and driven Namibians.

Nangula Kauluma (Vice-Chairperson)

Kauluma is a seasoned financial services executive, employed by FirstRand Namibia with dual responsibility as Executive Officer responsible for Premium Banking at FNB Namibia and CEO for OUTsurance Namibia. Prior to her current role, Nangula enjoyed a successful tenure with the Old Mutual Group, occupying a number of senior leadership roles within their Namibian, South African and Emerging Markets businesses, including Mutual & Federal SA – now Old Mutual Insurance.

She returned to Namibia to head up Old Mutual’s local short-term insurance business in 2016, shortly after which she was awarded the prestigious Namibian Businesswoman of the Year Award in late 2017. She is well-known in the sales and marketing arena across a diverse range of economic sectors such as retail, hospitality, aviation, pharmaceutical and tourism. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science (Spelman College) and a Masters in Business Administration (Stellenbosch University).

Willy Mertens (Board Member)

With close to 20-years in the diamond mining industry and in the last 6 years steering the financial ship of Debmarine Namibia and recently Namdeb Holdings as Chief Financial Officer. Mertens is vastly knowledgeable when it comes to financial prudence and managing the financial affairs of the various entities.

He is a certified Internal Auditor and Chartered Accountant and has since 2010 served on several boards for private and public firms in the financial services, electricity distribution, medical and educational industries. He is also a former part-time lecturer at the University of Namibia. Despite his dominant financial background, in 2013 he completed a postgraduate mining engineering diploma at the Witwatersrand University and the Senior Executive Programme through the London Business School.


Escher Luanda (Board Member)

A governance and ethics practitioner of note. Luanda holds B.Juris, LLB, Postgraduate Diploma in Compliance and a Master’s Degree in Business Leadership. An admitted attorney in Namibia, he leads the Governance and Ethics Division at the Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF), where he is a member of the Executive Leadership Team.

Luanda gained vast knowledge during his time as Deputy Chief of the Law Reform and Development Commission and has served as Chairperson and held directorships at several institutions. He is a former member of the Governance and Advocacy committee of the African Corporate Governance Network, former Member of the Remuneration Committee of the International Corporate Governance Network, where he continues to serve as the country’s (Namibia) correspondent.


Captain Alois Garai Nyandoro (Board Member)

His career in the aviation sector spans over 35 years, making him the most knowledgeable board member when it comes to aviation affairs. Nyandoro has worked for several commercial passenger and cargo airlines. He currently serves as the Chief Pilot/Director of Training for the Government Air Transport Services (VVIP Flight Department) and has been the Presidential Pilot since 1999 to date.

Nyandoro has a long history of service to the Namibian airline industry; during the period 2002 – 2004 he was the Chief Flight Instructor for the Namibia Aviation Training Academy. He was also the head of training for Air Namibia from 2008 – 2012. Nyandoro obtained a Master of Business Administration in Aviation (Magna Cum Laude) Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (USA), Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Namibia and has completed several aviation training courses.

Heritha Nankole Muyoba (Board Member)

A seasoned Human Resources Practitioner with 27 years of experience of which 20 years were spent in management inclusive of executive management. During that period, she has worked in government as a civil servant, parastatals, local authority, maritime and financial sectors. She owns her own HR Consultancy, RMZ Consulting cc.

Muyoba is certified talent economist, change management and remuneration practitioner. served on several Boards in Namibia. She holds a B Com (honors) specialising in Industrial and organisational psychology. She is currently Acting CEO for EBH Namibia (Ship yard in Walvis Bay).

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Managing DirectorMr. Christian Li

Christian Li serves as the Managing Director of Engen Namibia, having assumed the role in August 2018. Li, hailing from the East-African island nation of Mauritius, has over 20 year of experience in the petroleum sector, having served the majority of his tenure in key strategic positions.Li holds a BEng (Hons) degree in Production Technology and Mechanical Engineering and a Master’s in Business Administration.He started working in the petroleum industry at Total in Mauritius as Consumer Sales Manager, before moving to Chevron.Among various roles at Chevron, he was District Manager

EXECUTIVE PROFILEin Mauritius and Managing Director in the Republic of Congo.After the acquisition of Chevron Mauritius by Engen in 2011, Li served as the Marketing Manager on the island.He was later appointed Key Account Manager: Commercial and then Commercial Business Development Manager, both based in Cape Town, but focused on Engen’s business outside of South Africa. Li has been accorded numerous accolades over the course of his career. These include the Chairman’s Award at Chevron for excellence in leadership, Commercial performance of the year and a Customer Focus Award, among others.


continuous and across the whole value chain. At Engen, we continuously develop new and innovative products to stay ahead of the game, and use technology to get our products safely, reliably and quickly to our customers.

In July 2017, Engen Namibia inaugurated a N$62 million dollar fuel depot in Ondangwa in the Oshana Region. Is this symptomatic of the growth (wider footprint) that can be expected from Engen Namibia going forward?

These investments in infrastructure are part of our commitment to security of supply and ensuring Namibians have wide access to the energy needed to drive the economy forward and improve their lives.

Having recently assumed role of Managing Director at Engen Namibia, what excites you about this opportunity?

While I am both excited and honoured to manage Namibia’s Petroleum market leader, the challenge for Engen is to maintain our leadership in the country. To do this, we must consistently innovate and reinvigorate the brand in order to remain an attractive stop-over for both the youth and adults of Namibia. As a brand, it is important for Engen to move into exciting, innovative spaces where we can engage customers and interact with them.

How is success defined at Engen Namibia?

We are obviously a business, so creating sustainable value for our shareholders is a priority. However, this will only be achieved if we carefully consider our triple bottom line. We must therefore also continue to focus on people, whether it is building the capability and harnessing the talent of our employees or always acting as responsible and caring corporate citizen and partner to the communities in which we do business. From an environmental point of view, safety is a core focus of Engen and no operation is undertaken if it cannot be done safely or responsibly.

What constitutes as effective leadership to you and how do you get the best out of those around you?

Simply put, it is when there is a passion around a cause and you can motivate others to understand and derive the same passion. Emotional intelligence is a key component of effective leadership.

The vision and values, and the company strategy must be clearly communicated and well understood and permeate the organization, while also being translated succinctly to an aligned organization structure.

Everyone has their own strengths and an effective leader mush leverage these with additional coaching or training for people to achieve their full potential. Harnessing individual strengths and experience around common purpose creates effective teams.

Finally, as a leader you set the tone of an organization and lead by example to help build a high performing culture. That said, you also need to have people with the right attitude. It is easier to improve on skills and competencies but difficult to change attitude.

In your bid to defend and strengthen Engen Namibia’s market position, what role does innovation play in this process?

Innovation is a key differentiator, especially in today’s rapidly evolving and digitally connected world. It is very easy to become obsolete. Innovation should be

Each of my assignments provided unique and invaluable experience, which combined have prepared me both for my role as Engen Namibia MD and the future. That said, I am looking forward to learning more in my current role as business in Namibia is sure to also provide its own unique lessons.

Where are the risks?

Engen makes every effort to minimise the impact our operations have on the environment. We endeavour to strike a balance between economic, social and environmental needs. Our operations function optimally and safely in compliance with industry and legislative requirements. Engen is proud of its commitment to being a caring and responsible corporate citizen.

In what ways are your previous roles in Mauritius, Republic of Congo and South Africa similar to your current role at Engen Namibia?

Each of my assignments provided unique and invaluable experience, which combined have prepared me both for my role as Engen Namibia MD and the future. That said, I am looking forward to learning more in my current role as business in Namibia is sure to also provide its own unique lessons. The similarity across assignments is to also grow the business in Namibia and to ensure that Engen remains the oil company of choice and puts the customer first in everything it does.



In terms of capacity building; how do you ensure that you have the requisite skills around you to fulfill Engen Namibia’s corporate strategy?

Engen employees undergo continuous training and capability development. We offer competitive remuneration and are committed to staff development and creating a safe and healthy workplace environment. We also prioritize an integrated talent management framework to help ensure

that rather than relying by default on performance culture and resilience of staff, we set up a formal, deliberate pathway to secure the right people in the right jobs at the right time.

Furthermore, coaching and communication are also pivotal so that each and everyone understands not only their individual role but their contribution to the big picture. Most importantly, it is how we translate the strategy into actions.

How competitive is Namibia’s downstream oil sector? Is this conducive for Engen Namibia’s growth prospects?

We value competition as it keeps us on our toes and not complacent. This is good for our customers as they derive the benefits of an innovative and responsible company. However, it is not growth at all cost. Rather it is how to grow sustainably and healthily and to add value to the communities and customers as well as the shareholders.

When you one day look back at your tenure at Engen Namibia, what would you like to have achieved?

In no particular order: Made Engen a better workplace for employees. Contributed positively to local communities and the economy in Namibia.

Ensured sustainable growth for Engen through innovation, superior customer service, and partnerships and relationships with stakeholders. Pride in the quality of our health and safety standards at all levels.

The Executive | 2019The Executive | 201958

Engen makes every effort to minimise the impact our operations have on the environment. We endeavour to strike a balance between economic, social and environmental needs. Our operations function optimally and safely in compliance with industry and legislative requirements. Engen is proud of its commitment to being a caring and responsible corporate citizen.

The Executive | 2019 59The Executive | 2019The Executive | 2019


First and foremost, could you simplify for us the mandate of NAMCOR as an organization and the role it plays in the local energy sector?

NAMCOR’s mandate emanates from the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act 2 of 1991. As the national oil company, NAMCOR is mandated to play a role in both the upstream and the downstream sectors of the petroleum value chain on behalf of the State and on its own behalf.We are expected to carry out, first and foremost, exploration activities on behalf of the country and also to ensure the security of supply of petroleum products in the country is maintained. NAMCOR is more than ready to take up this mandate fully, as thus far our mandate has not been implemented to the fullest extent.

Having now settled into the position of NAMCOR Managing Director; how have you been able to ensure corporate governance excellence at the organization?

Managing DirectorMr. Immanuel Mulunga

In my opinion, corporate governance is not only the duty of the Managing Director, but rather the duty of all the stakeholders. In an organization such as NAMCOR, this starts from the shareholder who is the government, via the Ministry of Mines and Energy, the board of directors, as well as the management of the organization. The relationship between the three tiers has not always been ideal for NAMCOR. It has been challenging at times over the years and the issues in my opinion really came about as a result of leadership. I personally believe in the mantra that everything rises and falls on leadership. Thus, if you don’t have the right leaders in ministerial positions, board of directors’ positions or even the managing director’s position, then corporate governance will remain a challenging issue.

I do believe, however, that we are starting to get it right. I believe there is a minister now in place who understands the complexities of the sector and wants to serve the

Mr. Mulunga has served as Managing Director of NAMCOR since October 2015, where he previously served as a Board member from 2005 to 2010. Prior to joining NAMCOR, he served as the Petroleum Commissioner

in the Ministry of Mines and Energy for over a decade, where he was tasked to facilitate and promote the Exploration

and Production of oil and gas in Namibia. His experience in the oil and gas industry spans over 20 years, working primarily in the public sector for the Government of Namibia. Mr. Mulunga’s educational background includes an MBA from the University of Stellenbosch and a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Namibia.

EXECUTIVE PROFILE

with other international marketing companies of petroleum products such as Puma, Engen, Shell and Total.

We are thus challenged with having to come up with new ways of doing business at all times. I believe we have been successful in doing that like in the way we have procured our own petroleum products; the way we are transitioning to digitally enable our strategy and our ability to embrace change by constantly coming up with new ways of doing business.

As the leading organization in this sector; how much value does NAMCOR place on capacity building?

It is extemely important because without the right capacitated people, one cannot realise the vision that has been set. I think this has been the Achilles Heel of NAMCOR in the past, as there was a misconception that things could get done without having the right instruments or people in place. That has not worked and that is why we are where we are after 29 years of independence. Having addressed this issue, however, we are now seeing that NAMCOR is finally rising to take up its place as one of the biggest SOEs in Namibia.

NAMCOR recently undertook a rebranding exercise, what inspired this move and how successful has it been in meeting the required objectives?

Reinvention was always necessary and the rebranding exercise was merely a part of this journey. We had to look at a brand that stands out, that is dissimilar to the brands of our competitors, and we came up with a logo that is inspired by a pre-historic geological organism [cephalopod] which signifies movement, with the bright colours signifying energy, revival and growth. We are proud to have chosen this logo and we believe it has been well received thus far by the market.

What are the complexities or challenges that come with heading such a high value organization?

Firstly, we are an oil company and secondly, we are a State-owned entity. I think anywhere in the world, leading a national oil company comes with its own peculiar challenges. Leading an oil company is not an easy task anywhere in the world. Oil and gas comes with idiosyncratic challenges, so an individual who decides to take up a position like that must be strong and have hair on their teeth. There will always be those vying to get rid of you or suspend you, and this has been happening here as you are aware, so there is a genuine need to show resilience. Despite these attempts, we do fortunately have a rule of law in this country, which ensures that people cannot simply get rid of you, especially when you have not done anything wrong. It is a challenging organization to work for as Managing Director, but because of its small size historically, there was always an opportunity to make it bigger and expand its footprint in the country.

interests of NAMCOR and the country at large. A new board chairperson has also recently been appointed, who has vast experience working in the industry and understands all aspects of the oil and gas industry. This all plays a very positive role as since his [Mr. Engelhardt Kongoro] appointment, we have really made significant strides. I am still just serving out my first five-year term, but I can honestly say that since my appointment, the relationship between the minister, the board of directors and the managing director is currently at its best. I have been in the industry for 24 years and have been closely associated with NAMCOR since 1995, and this is really the best I have seen so far in terms of the relationship between the three players in the corporate governance framework.

What are some of the milestones the organization has attained during your tenure and which are you most proud of?

NAMCOR has been undergoing an evolutionary change over the years, and some of us have always believed that the organization was punching below its weight as a national oil company. When I joined the organization about four years ago, I was tasked with ensuring that NAMCOR starts playing the role that it should, as a national oil company, in the local economy.

To this end, there are interventions that we have started putting in place to realise this ambition. One of these was the launch of the new brand. Secondly, we have started employing the right people because without the right people, even if you have the right leader who understands the industry, it is difficult to get things done. We have succesfully implemented the [old] strategy, crafted a new strategy and restructured the organization to ensure that this new strategy can be succesfully implemented as well.The reorganization is nearing completion and we are set to recruit additional personnel to cater for the anticipated organizational growth. We have succesfuly entered the retail space with our first service station at the Hosea Kutako International Airport, which will start operating in August 2019, with another two nearing completion. These are some of the accomplishments that we have attained over the last four years.

We have further set ourselves ambitious targets. For example, we wish to double our revenue this financial year compared to the previous financial year. We are thus working very hard to make sure this happens.

What part does innovation play in the day-to-day running of NAMCOR?

Innovation is the only thing that can ensure sustainability and allow NAMCOR to play a meaningful role in the economy, while also allowing it to be competitive. People forget that NAMCOR is not a monopoly like other State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs). We actually have to compete



How do you manage the challenge of being both a regulator and a competitor in the petroleum sector?

Historically, NAMCOR started off as a regulator of the upstream sector on behalf of the State and as an advisor to the government, through the Ministry of Mines and Energy, but over the years we have had a gradual move away from this role. Moving forward, we want to be seen as a purely commercial entity. That is why we have been classified by the Ministry of Public Enterprises as a commercial SOE, as we want to do away with being viewed as a regulator as we do not identify ourselves as a regulator anymore. The Ministry of Mines and Energy have fully assumed this role of a regulator and this allows NAMCOR to take up this space as a commercial entity. That, however, will have to be formalized, including the legal elements pertinent thereto, as the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act 2 of 1991 still has us being seen as a regulator, even though we do not identify as one.

In what ways has the economic downturn impacted the operations of NAMCOR?

Although it’s strange to say, while everybody has been feeling the effects of the local economic downturn, NAMCOR has actually been increasing in revenue and size, with reference to the additional people set to be recruited, and we are also set to increase our revenue by 100%. Therefore, the economic downturn has not really affected us negatively. Through that, we have taken up the challenge of expanding the size of the company by that magnitude because people require fuel all the time. We are also capturing market share from our competitors. We await to see in March next year if we have realized the financial objectives that we have set.

Can you tell us a bit about NAMCOR’s involvement in Corporate Social Initiatives and the strategic importance thereof?

NAMCOR’s Corporate Social Responsibility policy covers three focus areas namely; education, environment and community upliftment. In addition to these, the company also considers the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), closely linked to our focus areas. NAMCOR prioritises regions and towns where it has operations such as Otjozondjupa where we have a 600 000 litre capacity fuel depot, as well as Erongo where we have bunkering facilities, as well as the National Fuel Storage facility.The company spends about N$1 million on an annual basis for corporate social responsibility projects. We, for example, supported environmental preservation efforts of the Otjiwarongo Municipality on an annual basis for the last four years. NAMCOR has also donated educational equipment such as computers and scientific equipment to amongst others the Xungileni Primary School (Oshana), David Khamuxab Primary School (Kunene) as well as the Okaepe Project School (Otjozondjupa) to mention but a

few. The company also considers vulnerable communities such as the San and Ovahimba, and in recent times donated educational material with a combined value of about N$700 000 to the Tsumkwe Primary and High schools, as well as the Orotjitombo Primary School (Kunene/Opuwo).NAMCOR has also extended a helping hand to the projects of First Lady Monica Geingos (One Economy Foundation) and the Sam Nujoma School & Clinic Project.

Could you chart for us the sort of organizational growth that you envisage for NAMCOR over the next decade?

Since we have decided to enter the retail sector, we believe that much of our growth will come from there. The margins in the retail space are much higher than in the commercial sector. We were successful in landing one of the biggest mines [Swakop Uranium] in the country for the supply of petroleum products and that will contribute about 60% to our revenue this year. We are also looking at importing products as enabled by the 75 million litre national oil storage facility that has been constructed by government. NAMCOR has been designated as the operator of the facility, and we expect it to be operational by November 2019 as the recruitment process for the close to 30 people required to run this facility is already underway.

This facility will thus allow NAMCOR to import products at competitive rates and allow us to wean ourselves off from buying petroleum products from our competitors. That will then also enable us to competitively export our products to other markets.

We are excited about the future and I have set an even more ambitious target of NAMCOR becoming a N$5 billion revenue generating company by the end of the 2021 financial year.

Any additional remarks?

NAMCOR, as the national oil company, believes that it has all the critical success factors on its side now to ensure that the entity can grow to the appropriate size. We are not only focused on the petroleum downstream, but also the continued participation of oil and gas exploration in the country. We have managed as a country to attract major exploration companies such as Shell, ExxonMobil, Total etc. to take over the exploration baton of the companies that were exploring here previously. We believe that we are not very far away from finding oil in Namibia, and we wish to play a role there moving forward as we are present in all the oil exploration licenses. Even in the unlikely event that we do not find oil in the next 4 to 5 years, we are positioning ourselves, as part of our strategy, to acquire production assets outside of the country, so that we can grow and completely become independent of any government subsidies or levies. Everybody at NAMCOR is excited about realising this vision.


Chief Executive Officer / Principal OfficerMr. David Nuyoma

EXECUTIVE PROFILEDavid Nuyoma is the Chief Executive Officer and Principal Officer of the Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF), a fully funded pension Fund established in 1989.

Prior to assuming his duties, he was the first CEO of the Development Bank of Namibia, the Executive Director of Namibia Investment Centre at the Ministry of Industrialisation, Trade and SME Development, the Chairman of the SADC Investment Promotion Agencies, the SADC Development Finance Institutions Network, the Commissioner of the National Planning Commission and a member of the President’s Economic Advisory Council.

Mr. Nuyoma holds a Master’s Degree in Industrial Development and a Bachelor of Art (Honours) in Development Studies both obtained at the University of East Anglia, United Kingdom.

He is also the Chairman of the Namibian Stock Exchange Board of Directors and is a Non-Executive

Director at Pupkewitz Holdings.


As the head of the biggest financial institution by asset size in the country; how do you define leadership?

Leadership in the context of GIPF is based on the understanding that it is a large organisation, in terms of the value of assets under our management, which amounts to about 70% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). That makes us the biggest corporate citizen, which requires an understanding of the impact we have in our communities and the responsibility we have to our stakeholders.

Given the large value of the assets we manage, it is necessary to ensure that an ethical culture is maintained so that these funds are utilised optimally to the benefit of our stakeholders.

It is also important for a leader to have a good ear and listen to those around them, and it is for this reason that we have embarked on numerous stakeholder engagements.

An understanding for the core nature of our business is also necessary. We are not a glamour business. Usually when people come to us, it is after they have lost their loved ones or upon retirement. It is therefore important for us to execute our duties in a manner that shows compassion and understanding to address social inequality.

As a multi-faceted organization comprised of the provision of pension services as well as investments, how do you ensure that all your stakeholders are catered for?

We have adopted various strategies and processes that are geared towards the sustainability of the fund and ensure that our investments are greater than our liabilities. One of these processes is ensuring the legitimacy of our members by ensuring they verify themselves. To this end, we have developed four verification processes that help us to not only improve efficiency, but also to safeguard our resources.

Having recently improved the fund from N$ 110.4 billion to N$ 117 billion during the 2018/19 financial year, what would you attribute this to?

It is always good to see an upward growth trajectory, particularly in a difficult market economy. Towards the end of 2018, all the fund managers started to notice a decline in value due to the difficulties experienced in the financial market. To record growth in that respect shows that we have attained progress, but it is what I would call muted progress because while the values expressed above seem astronomical in the local context, we would expect even double these returns in a favourable market environment.

That success notwithstanding, what other accomplishments were attained by the organization over the last year?

One of the areas is member education. We have gone to great lengths to improve our member education and these have ranged from one-to-one engagements to group engagements. We also utilised the media in the form of the radio and social media to ensure that our members get the necessary information that will prevent them from being disadvantaged.

In addition to this, we previously held one big member education engagement in Windhoek. However, last year, we had two such engagements, one in Swakopmund, and in April this year, in Opuwo, which I was very succesful.

What we did further was to interrogate our core processes and we re-organised to speed up things like claim handling time and processing. This was aimed at enhancing efficiency and ensuring improved service delivery. In what ways does innovation shape the operations of the Government Institutions Pension Fund?

Innovation is the future, innovation is now. At GIPF, innovation can be seen in how we have championed transformation in order to optimise our resources, reduce costs and ensure the improvement of service delivery.

In 2018 for example, we had issues relating to our network connectivity that adversely affected our internet speed and subsequently our system processing speed. Through the transition to cloud connectivity services, however, we were able to mitigate these challenges and that is exemplary of the type of innovation that takes place here as this has virtually eliminated our performance challenges.

How have the adverse local economy and the instability in the macroeconomic environment affected GIPF?

The affects of the local economic downturn are noticeable in the demand and behaviours of our approximately 150 000 members, which include both the active members as well as pensioners. It is clear to see that there is reduced buying power.

Our robust investment is divided into four regions and these are Namibia, South Africa, Africa and International. We have investments in all these regions. The rationale is that if there are adversities affecting one of these regions, it is unlikely that they will affect the other regions and this has acted as a great buffer for us in terms of the local economic downturn.


Investment into fixed assets such as property is another thing that has enabled us to mitigate the effects of the local economic downturn. We have invested in property in all the four regions. Locally, we have invested in properties in places such as Windhoek, Otjiwarongo, Eenhana, Ondangwa and Rehoboth.

The nature of property, given that it does not depreciate and either gives you the value of your investment or an improved value is something that has been able to assist us in mitigating these effects.

Since property does not depreciate and gives you either the same value of your investment or an improved one, this has allowed us

is something that has been able to assist us in mitigating these effects.

Cash and bonds (government and otherwise) are the other asset classes that have enabled us to mitigate the effects of the local economic downturn.

Lastly, we have currency. Of the four regions mentioned earlier, the African and International regions operate in the US dollar currency and this has translated into good value and has acted as a great buffer for us against the local economic challenges.

Are there any other challenges that affect the seamless running of the GIPF?

Simply put, the challenges are operational and relate to data, clear identity and member integrity.

To explain the issues we face, let us take an example of an individual who starts working and they have one child or dependant. At the time they start employment they list down this dependent as a beneficiary. They then go on to have three other children but do not update their data with us. This means when it is time to look for beneficiaries, there will only be the first child listed as a beneficiary in our records.

When our members sign up, we also give them a nomination form to indicate who will be responsible for the disbursement of their benefits. The question of member integrity then comes in when for example, the member in question has two of his four children with the spouse, whom he nominates as the executor of the benefits and this spouse, perhaps for strategic reasons, will only mention the two children that they have together and omit the other two with the aim of getting a larger share of the benefits.

Identity is another challenge we face and that is why we now ask dependants to provide us with full birth certificates, which detail the biometric information as well as the names of the parents.

How important is capacity building and staff retention at GIPF?

Training is very important here. We have many people within the organisation that we have sent out to receive training in various areas and this is all aligned with the core objectives of the GIPF.

With regards to staff retention, we have strategic pillars and one of them is to be an employer of choice, because we believe that if our people are happy, then they are more likely to provide better services to our members.

To this end, we also have a very low staff turnover, which stands at around 2.7%, against the benchmark of 5%.

What’s your greatest source of inspiration?

When I was studying in the UK, I was privileged in that I was exposed to people from all over the world from countries such as China, America and India. I thought to myself, once we receive this education, how are we going to use it effectively.

I then made a concious decision that Namibia is a country that is in the infancy of its development, and that my expertise would thus have a greater impact here than in other markets.

It is for this reason that I draw inspiration from the things we do here at GIPF and the little victories we get such as reducing the turnaround time of our processes or providing excellent service to our members. These are the things that keep me inspired.

When you one day hang up your executive hat, what would you like to have achieved at GIPF?

We have set clear targets for ourselves and these include being the leading pension fund globally, as prescribed by our vision. We want people to come from Canada or America to see how we do it here and emulate what we have achieved. It is our goal to set ourselves as a global benchmark and have the characteristics of a global fund.

In terms of service delivery, we want to reduce the waiting time of our clients and, in fact, we want to be able to pay out the benefits while the claimant is still in the building. We do not want people to come to GIPF and sit in long queues.

We would further want to record progress in terms of our contribution to the GDP even though we are [already] the biggest investor locally.


Theo Mujoro is the current Chief Electoral and Referenda Officer at the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN), having assumed the responsibility in September 2019. Mujoro grew through the ranks having joined the ECN in 2000 and having performed strategic roles in various capacities during his time with the organisation. Amongst his

academic qualifications, Mujoro holds a Master’s degree in Public Management from the University of Potsdam, Germany.

Mujoro is a trained journalist and started his professional working career with the Namibia Press Agency (NAMPA) in 1998 before joining the National Assembly as a Media Liaison Officer and later as Personal Assistant to the late Honorable Speaker of the National Assembly, Dr. Mose P. Tjitendero. Before assuming the role of Chief Electoral and Referenda Officer at the ECN, Mujoro started initially as Executive Assistant to then Director of Elections, Mr. Joram Rukambe. In 2008, Mujoro was appointed in the position of Deputy Director: Planning & Registration and was later promoted as Director of Operations, a position he held until 2018.

Mujoro played a pioneering role in the introduction of Namibia’s first biometrics voter’s registration system and supervised the implementation of other electoral technologies such the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM’s)

as well as the Voter Verification Devices (VVD’s).

Mujoro is the current Chairperson of the CEO’s Structure of the Electoral Commissions Forum of SADC Countries.

EXECUTIVE PROFILE


Chief Electoral and Referenda OfficerMr. Theo Mujoro

Having recently assumed the position of Chief Electoral and Referanda Officer, what excites you most about your new role?

I am extremely honoured to serve my country and my people at this level at this defining moment in our history. Democracy is not a perfect political system but I am convinced it’s the best option for our young nation. I believe in a system of multiple party democracy and its relevance to sustaining our cultural diversities and building national cohesion.

I look forward to supervising and celebrating yet another peaceful electoral cycle for our country, together with the ECN’s management team and the Electoral Commission as we are gearing ourselves toward the forthcoming Presidential and National Assembly elections slated for 27th November 2019. All the fundamentals are in place for the conduct of the next national elections and I am excited!

What leadership qualities have you utilised to get the buy-in of those at the Electoral Commission of Namibia for it to effectively carry out its mandate?

I believe that honesty and Integrity are indispensable characteristics for managing elections and I try my best to engrain these values in my leadership style. It is important to listen to divergent views and appreciate all sentiments but ultimately taking a decision is crucial.

Delegation and empowering are important interventions to capacitate those around you. I also believe that creativity and innovation are a precondition to keep the organisation versatile and responsive at all material times.

How is innovation championed at the ECN?

Innovation constitutes one of the four Strategic Pillars of the Electoral Commission. As such, it is one of the functions of the Commission, which is to provide a strategic roadmap for the executive and the rest of the organization. Consequently, innovation is championed from the top of the organization by Commissioners. It follows, therefore, that “Ensuring innovative solutions” is one of the five strategic objectives of the Electoral Commission.

The other four strategic objectives are Improving stakeholder relations, improving electoral operations, improving governance processes and strengthening constitutional and electoral democracy.

Some people view the ECN as only important on the year of the National and Presidential Elections, such as 2019, could you unpack for us the mandate of the ECN and its strategic importance to Namibia?

In terms of the Namibian Constitution, the ECN is “An exclusive body that is mandated to direct, supervise,

manage and control the conduct of elections and referenda in Namibia. Our Vision is to be a centre of excellence in electoral management by 2022 and our Mission Statement is to conduct and manage electoral and referenda processes for Namibian citizens with a view to consolidate electoral democracy in this country.

In terms of the legal provision of the Electoral Act, Presidential and National Assembly elections must take place every five years, in other words; elections in Namibia follow a five-year cycle. An electoral cycle is best visualized as a planning and training tool, which is designed to assist electoral stakeholders, such as Election Management Bodies (EMBs), to understand the cyclical nature of electoral processes.

The ECN subscribes and make use of the Electoral cycle in the execution of its mandate. The Electoral Cycle (and by extension the ECN) considers elections as a continuous process rather than an isolated event taking place in an election year. In general, the electoral cycle is divided into three periods – the Pre-Electoral Period, the Electoral Period and the Post-electoral Period. At conceptual level, the electoral cycle has no starting or ending points and one period ends when the following one starts. For example, some post-electoral period activities may still be taking place when activities of the Pre-electoral period start. On the other hand, some activities, such as civic and voter education, take place throughout all the three periods.

What are some of the complexities that come with heading such an integral organization?

Heading an Election Management Body (EMB) such as the ECN requires the understanding of many complexities and an aptitude for a delicate balancing act. Whilst elections involve political actors, the EMB is expected to act (and seen to be acting) in a neutral, non-partisan and impartial manner at all times.

Heading an Election Management Body (EMB) such as the ECN requires the understanding of many complexities and an aptitude for a delicate balancing act. Whilst elections involve political actors, the EMB is expected to act (and seen to be acting) in a neutral, non-partisan and impartial manner at all times.


However, it must be understood that part of the mandate of the ECN as an exclusive body mandated to manage elections, is to promote inclusive democracy. This means that the Commission cannot stand on the fence when this mandate is infringed upon. In this regard, the Commission will always be on the side of the voter to ensure inclusive democracy.

On the technical level, election processes are increasingly becoming a complex undertaking involving ever-increasing complex operations and electoral processes. Notably, ICT solutions are increasingly replacing manual operations in order to enhance electoral processes in terms of speed, accuracy, efficiency and cost effectiveness. It is against this backdrop that the Commission has embraced ICT solutions such as electronic capturing of registration data using the biometric Voter Registration Kits (VRKs) to improve the registration process and electronic balloting using Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) to enhance the polling process.

Other issues, such as Political Party Funding are equally complex issues that the EMB must deal with. These are just a few samples of many complexities that come with heading an integral organization such as the ECN, and as the Accounting and Executive Officer leading the ECN, one is expected to be on top of the game in understanding these complex issues and implementing them.

Having recently concluded the Supplementary Registration of Voters process, what are some of the other achievements the ECN has attained over the last year?

Like the Supplementary Registration of Voters, some of the other achievements attained by the Commission over the last year would be expected to fall under activities of the Pre- and Post-electoral periods. This is one practical example where the Electoral Cycle as a tool comes in handy.

Considerable time was consumed by post-electoral period activities such as post mortem reviews, reforms and assessments, and in this regard, the ECN held its strategic workshop to review its strategic and annual plans. However, the ECN mostly focused on its pre-electoral period planning activities and stakeholder engagements. The 2019 election calendar was developed to guide the planning process. This calendar was shared with the key electoral stakeholders.

In addition, the Commission undertook two comprehensive nationwide exercises of a constituency boundary clarification and determination of registration venues and polling points. In terms of the law, these exercises necessarily must proceed the supplementary registration of voters because it is a legal requirement that eligible voters must be registered within the boundaries of the constituencies in which they reside.

Of course, the Democracy Building division of the ECN has been conducting civic and voter education in a continuous process throughout all three periods, but culminating in the 2019 Civic and Voter Education Launch, which was held on 17 May 2019 and was attended by all the key electoral stakeholders.

In terms of leadership; Who are some of the leaders, either locally or internationally, who have inspired you?

Barack Obama made some mistakes but I think he was truly an inspirational figure and became a representation of hope and change by championing the ideals of a progressive government and social justice.

He has made a miraculous change in the cultural attitudes and behaviors of developed western nations towards people of colour all over the world. Obama has defined his rise to and incumbency as President, with a leadership style that can only be defined as transformational and charismatic.

Martin Luther King, Muhammad Ali and Nelson Mandela all accomplished great things under difficult conditions and impacted the world in many positive ways.

Is there further scope for organizational growth at the ECN?

Yes, the Commission operates within a dynamic environment, where organizational growth is part and parcel of national development. All things being equal and taking the economic situation and the related budgetary constraints into account, most of the expected organizational growth is driven by the Decentralization Policy. The Electoral Act provides for continuous registration of voters in all the regions of the country and the ECN is expected to establish a presence and regional offices in each of the 14 regions.

In addition, the Electoral Act provides for certain regional positions to represent the ECN at regional level. In this regard, the Commission is currently busy reviewing its organizational structure with the view of accommodating the additional positions in order, and thereby, to comply with these legal stipulations.

With reference to the increasing complexities of the electoral processes, which we have discussed above, the situation demands the acquisition of new personnel, who are technical experts skilled in the field of ITC technologies. For example, the Commission is currently seeking to Namibianize its Voter Registration and Election Data Transmission Systems, which are currently operated by foreign experts. As we can see, all the above imperatives suggest and entail further scope for organizational growth.


Managing DirectorMrs. Patty Karuaihe-Martin


Mrs Patty Karuaihe-Martin is the Managing Director of the Namibia National Reinsurance Corporation Ltd (NamibRe), a position she has held since 2014. Mrs Karuaihe-Martin has more than 27 years

of work experience in the financial sector after having worked in various financial institutions which include PWC (Partner/

Director within the Strategic Advisory, Risk and Corporate Governance as well as Tax Leader). Mrs Karuaihe-Martin

has also worked for public institutions such as the Ministry of Finance, Telecom Namibia, TransNamib

and the University of Namibia.

Mrs Karuaihe-Martin’s work experience includes serving on Trustees and Boards of Public Enterprises as well as Insurance industry bodies. Currently, Mrs Karuaihe-Martin serves on the OESAI Board as the Chairperson, is an Executive Committee Members of the Africa Insurance Organisation (AIO) Committee, a Trustee on the Unam Foundation Board as well as Chairperson of the JP Karuaihe Trust Fund.

Mrs Karuaihe-Martin has extensive experience and expertise in areas of Insurance, Reinsurance, Taxation, Internal Audit, accounting and finance, Business strategy, project management, Valuations, Advisory Consulting, Risk, control and fraud and Corporate

Governance.

Mrs Karuaihe-Martin’s other accolades includes two awards for 2017 Africa’s

Most Influential Women in Business and Government awards in the Public Enterprises sector category and received a honouree award at the 2017 EMEA Women to Watch Awards

for her transformational work at NamibRe. Mrs Karuaihe-Martin’s was also a finalist in Namibia Business awards.

EXECUTIVE PROFILE


How is success measured at the Namibia National Reinsurance Corporation (NamibRe)?

NamibRe measures success using a combination of financial and non-financial indicators. These include:

Financial: The retention ratio (which also talks to our mandate of minimising the capital outflow from the insurance sector in Namibia), profit growth and being able to declare dividends to the shareholder, which is the Namibian Government. To illustrate NamibRe’s performance, the profits of the Corporation grew by 194% to N$43.3 million between 2014 to 2018 while shareholder funds grew by 28%. Moreover, since NamibRe’s inception, the organization has been able to pay all claims and maintained favourable credit rating scores, which is key to doing business in the insurance industry.

Finally, having enhanced its reputation in the industry on the African continent and beyond, NamibRe enjoys doing business in Africa. This entails NamibRe being offered to participate in risks in other African countries, in addition to the interest shown by other while other insurance and reinsurance organizations to do business with NamibRe. This is testament that the insurance industry, both continentally and internationally, has confidence in NamibRe as a company and its leadership.

People growth: NamibRe has been able to attract, develop and retain its staff members, who are responsible for the successful running of the organization. The Corporation has a big focus on staff development, given that NamibRe is the only reinsurance company in Namibia and the business is quite technical. Hence, through its training schemes, NamibRe has seen the benefits in terms of its financial and operational performance. NamibRe also has a focus on encouraging its staff members to undertake corporate social responsibility projects as a way of giving back to the community as well as wellness as we believe in supporting the wellness and health of our staff members.

How would you characterize the growth of NamibRe since its inception and how much room is there for further growth?

NamibRe has attained continuous growth since its inception. This growth accelerated from 2016 onwards as the new management team implemented a number of reforms which include; (i) introducing life business; (ii) gradual increase in the percentage of cessions charged on net line; (iii) taking on more facultative business; and (iv) closing off loss-making foreign business accounts. NamibRe has potential to grow further and this growth will be derived from the implementation of the per policy cession and further expansion of business in Africa.

How integral is innovation in the reinsurance sector?

Innovation is integral to any type of business which wants to survive and remain competitive in today’s world. Nowadays, societies and businesses operate in a world which is highly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA). Innovation pertains to new product development and new or different ways of doing business. This allows companies to not only remain relevant but also to respond to the needs of their clients. The re/insurance sector has used innovation to come up with new ways of doing business in order to remain relevant to clients.The latest surveys undertaken in the insurance industry shows that technology has the highest impact on their organisations. When it comes to technology, the industry views it as a way to improve doing business by having access to clients and gathering information (using social media). This is best illustrated by the Kenyan insurance market which embraced technology by selling agriculture products through mobile devise. The industry is also using drones to collect data after natural catastrophic events, which reduces delays in settling claims and improve service to clients.

NamibRe has contributed over N$12 million to the state coffers between 2014 and 2017, how does this speak to the efficiency of the structures in place at the organization?

NamibRe is run purely on business principles, where maintaining profitability and ensuring financial sustainability are key. To this end, NamibRe has a strategic plan which is reviewed annually. The Corporation uses the strategic plan to identify and implement deliberate actions (strategic objectives) which support its business growth. The strategic plan, coupled with an experienced and diversified team of Directors and staff members, has contributed to NamibRe’s ability to remain profitable, making it possible to consistently declare dividends to its shareholder and at the same time giving value to the insurance industry.

What are some of the other milestones that NamibRe has attained over the last 18 years?

• Over the last 18 years, NamibRe has attained financial growth and remained profitable. To illustrate, the Government has never had to inject additional funds, other than the N$20 million at inception, into the Corporation.

• NamibRe has to date not failed to pay claims. The ability to pay claims is a key measure of success for an insurance/reinsurance company.

• For the past five financial years, the Corporation has managed to ensure that the financial statements were audited and submitted to the relevant authorities (including Ministry of Public Enterprises) within the prescribed time-


frame. During the same period, the Corporation obtained unqualified audit opinions. Finally, the Corporation has not paid any penalties for non-compliance over the past four years.

• Through its strategic plan, NamibRe has been able to implement key business reforms, which supported the implementation of its establishing Act, while at the same time enhancing its ability to remain profitable. These include: the activation of life business; (ii) gradual increase in the percentage of cessions charged on net line; (iii) taking on more facultative business; and (iv) closing off loss making foreign business accounts.

• In the past 4 years, NamibRe, in collaboration with the local insurance industry, successfully hosted the African insurance industry conferences, which include (i) Organisation for Eastern and Southern Africa Insurers (OESAI) in 2016, Continental Re CEO summit in April 2018 and Africa Insurance Organisation Reinsurance Forum in October 2018. These conferences were attended by more than 400 executives from the insurance industry across Africa and the world. NamibRe will be hosting (together with industry) the Africa Insurance Organisation Conference in 2023, which is expected to attract more than 1000 delegates.

• NamibRe enjoys representation in the African insurance industry bodies as its Managing Director is an Executive Member of the Africa Insurance Organisation (AIO) as well as being the Chairperson of OESAI. This has been a concerted drive of the corporation to enhance its reputation and public profile, thereby making it easy to undertake business in the African market.

• NamibRe has a robust bursary scheme which has supported young Namibians to further their studies in fields in which the country has a skills deficit. The fields include accounting and finance, engineering as well as actuarial science. We are pleased to report that the bursary scheme has been extended to add an internship programme, where one of its actuary students who graduate will be attached for a period of 2 years with one of NamibRe’s business partners, internationally.

• NamibRe has managed to introduce a structure that supports its strategic plan and business operations, while maintaining favourable internal relations.

Given the nature of its business, how has the economic downturn affected NamibRe?

NamibRe’s business depends on how well the economy is performing. Hence the economic downturn has had an impact on our business. However, we always look at other ways of how to improve the way we are doing business in a sustainable and profitable manner. To this end, NamibRe has remained profitable due to the fact that the company adopted strict underwriting and risk management strategies. It is worth noting that in the reinsurance business, maintaining profitability (bottom line) is more important than turnover (top line). This is because the bottom line is a reflection of the health status of the business book in that it shows the underwriting and claims management abilities of a reinsurance company. Focusing only on the top line as a business strategy could result in dire financial implications for a reinsurance company (resulting in writing bad business with the risk of high claims, which can then erode the capital profitability of a company).

Could you outline some of the strategic partnerships that the organization has made to ensure that it is adequately capacitated to fulfill its mandate?

NamibRe has partnered up with other reinsurance companies with A rated securities such as MunichRe (at the moment as lead reinsurer) AfricaRe and has a number of retrocession agreements with other reinsurance companies for purposes of risk sharing (through reciprocal business arrangements).

What would you like to have achieved at the end of your tenure at NamibRe?

I would like to see NamibRe grow from its current level and expand its footprint in Africa so as to be on equal footing and compete with other reinsurance companies on the continent. At national level, I want to see that NamibRe is in a position to meet its mandate of curbing capital outflow so that we can use those funds to develop our local economy and skills and talent in the local industry. The development of local talent and skills is critical to the industry as without skills the Namibian insurance industry will lag behind that of others as skills are required for innovation and the adaptation of technology in the industry.

Finally, I am very passionate about developing our local talent and we have trained professional insurance experts. Hence, we have, as part of our strategic plan, an initiative to establish an Insurance academy of learning. This is because we currently do not have an institution which offers insurance-related courses in Namibia. This limits the participation of our people in the industry and this has to change. I believe that once we establish the academy, then we can develop the expertise in the industry and hence further develop our industry. We have already started to develop our staff members and to provide training in-house to our industry.


Mr. Mbandeka has been CRAN’s Chief Executive Officer since September 2015. He has a track record spanning over 23 years in various large and notable Namibian institutions in both the public and private sector, with a specialization in Law and is an admitted legal practitioner of the High Court of Namibia. In 2008 he made the transition to the ICT industry and has since successfully immersed himself into the technical and legal aspects of this fast moving and dynamic sector. He is training as a Life transformational Coach through the Animas Centre for Coaching, London, UK.

He has served, through various Cabinet appointments on various government negotiation assignments ranging from the Presidential Commission of Enquiry: DBC and AMCOM, Government Negotiation Team on the Sales and Marketing of diamond affairs during 2006 - 2008, the Millennium Challenge Account (between the Namibian Government and the United States Government (Millennium Challenge Corporation) and as the head of delegation of the Namibian Legal team that negotiated the Extradition Treaty with China and Angola , among others.

His extensive strategic knowledge, experience and exceptional leadership is highly sought after in the Namibian market and as a result he has served on various institutional and charitable boards over the years. Notably, he serves as the Chairperson of the Board for the Namibian Diamond Trading Company from November 2012 to date. Furthermore he has been a member of the Gambling and Casino Board since May 2016 and currently serves as the Board Chairperson and recently appointed to the STANLIB Board as a non-executive Director.

EXECUTIVE PROFILE


Chief Executive Officer Mr. Festus K. Mbandeka

How is success measured at the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN)?

There are many ways to determine success. It all depends on your values, your vision and purpose. In terms of CRAN, success is defined by looking at the objectives that have been set out and in this context, that relates to its statutory mandate to regulate the telecommunications, broadcast and postal services, as well as to promote the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and access to affordable and relevant ICT services and products. Additionally, CRAN is also tasked with the promotion of local investments in the ICT space in addition to managing the roll-out of ICT. Those are the core objectives.

The second aspect is by looking at our mandate of regulating the industry and ensuring that there is fair play. If you manage to address the issues that have been set out in your mandate, then that will determine the level of success that your organization has attained.

Thirdly, there is an important element which is your strategic plan. The strategic plan in my view is a roadmap as it sets out where you are, where you are heading and how you are going to get there. That is defined within the parameters of a specific period of time. It tells you for example that within the next three years, this is where we wish to be and this is what we want to achieve.

There is another key aspect that relates to the interests of the stakeholders and the shareholder. We are in existence to serve the interests of the stakeholders and as such, in CRAN’s context, these stakeholders are primarily the licencees that it regulates, the consumers of the ICT services and products, as well as the public. There are naturally also internal stakeholders such as your staff members. Then there is the shareholder (the Namibian Government), which has provided the mandate and as a result wants to see value. Thus, the management of the expectations of the stakeholders and shareholders is how our success is measured.

What leadership tools do you utilize to ensure the succesful implementation of CRAN’s mandate?

Every leader has his/her own style and this includes the tools that are suitable for his/her circumstance. In this case, I believe in the concept of collaboration. This means that when we have the setup, there is an understanding that to achieve certain objectives, you must have good coherence and alignment in the team. For this to happen, you need to have the correct structures in place.

Team-work is another aspect that we look at. This is key to success and is a very important tool to achieve things in life because it does not matter how good the leader is; if he/she is unable to manage the dynamics of his/her team

or the cooporation within it, the complexities etc, then it is very difficult to achieve your goals.

Communication is another tool as it allows one to articulate the vision, mission and the values that one wishes to inculcate into the organization. Therefore, if you are able to employ this element effectively both internally and externally, this will enable you to demonstrate good leadership.

Additionally, there is also an ability to give direction and focus as often people may set out to do many things, but there is a need to define the key areas of focus that will help you to achieve your objectives. Here is where the need comes in for the leader to identify and communicate which areas the team should focus on in order to achoeve the short-term, medium-term and long-term objectives.

There is also the issue of being firm especially when it comes to principle issues. At times, for the sake of peace and harmony, one may wish to please and accommodate others. These intentions are good but of course the tools and means to achieve that may not necessarily be correct. Therefore, it is important to be firm and not to be seen be compromising on these principle issues. These are the key tools that one can use in leadership.

What are some of the key accomplishments CRAN has garnered over the last eight years?

CRAN has been in existence for almost eight years now, and I have been here only for four years.

There are many ways to determine success. It all depends on your values, your vision and purpose. In terms of CRAN, success is defined by looking at the objectives that have been set out and in this context, that relates to its statutory mandate to regulate the telecommunications, broadcast and postal services, as well as to promote the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and access to affordable and relevant ICT services and products.


A lot has been achieved and I have to give a lot of credit to my predecessor (Mr. Stanley Shanapinda) for the foundation he laid for CRAN to be where it is today. It is a very young organization but when I look at the achievements that have been realised so far, I’m proud to say that there was a very good foundation.

In comparison, one of the key issues that we need to highlight as an achievement is that CRAN has gone out to set itself up as one of the few self-sustaining and financially-independent State-Owned Enterprises. Currently, CRAN does not receive any subsidies from government but rather generates its own sources, from which it runs its operations.

Since CRAN emerged from a government extension (Namibian Communications Commission), it has turned into a reputed legal entity on its own and laid a foundation in terms of its operations to regulate the telecommunications, broadcasting and postal sector. The legal frameworks, regulations and structures have been put in place to ensure that CRAN is able to regulate these aspects which are very important and play a very key role in our economy.

Thirdly, CRAN has been able to create a level playing field. We have been able to roll-out various legal frameworks that speak to this. Initially, there were very few players in the sectors. For example, in the telecommunications sphere, we had MTC and Telecom. A realization then came about that we needed to create a level playing field, we had to put certain measures in place.

One of these measures relates to competitions, with one example being infrastructure sharing. This is key because if one sets up an entity but doesn’t have the means and capital to set up the requisite infrastructure that the existing and established operators do, we have ensured that they can go to the bigger players in the market (such as NBC, MTC and Telecom), negotiate and agree on the terms of sharing such infrastructure at a cost that is amenable to both parties. Should the two parties not be able to reach an agreement, then they can come to CRAN so that we regulate the agreement. What we provide is the framework in which the negotiations can take place so that there is no need for more network towers and transmitters to be set up.

We have also introduced number portability, which essentially allows consumers to move with the same number to another service provider. This provides convinience for the consumers so that they don’t suffer the consequences of moving from one network to the other. It is a process that we have started and will be rolled-out for both fixed and mobile networks.

Another notable success that even precedes the region is the addressing of the issue of termination rates (rates charged by one telecommunications operator to another when calls are made between networks: E.g. MTC to TN Mobile).

Around 2012 and 2013, CRAN started to have the conversation with the two operators that the termination rates were too high as they were pegged at N$1.06. We made the need for the consumers to make calls interchangably at an affordable rate apparent to them (operators) and if the matter was not adressed, it may have persisted so we brought the termination rates down to N$0.10 over a period of 3 years. That triggered the same movement in South Africa as well.

Additionally, we have the aspect of allowing new players into the market. This is why we now have Paratus Telecom and MTN joining the fray. In order for competition to be advanced in the sector, new players need to be allowed to come on board. Our intention is to expand the variety of telecommunications services available for consumers and eventually to bring the prices down so that the accessibility of these products and services to the consumers can be attained.

We have also created new categories of licenses. We have created, for example, the network facility licence and we have about four companies which offer these services such as NamPower, Powercom etc.

The transition from analogue services to digital that NBC has been able to achieve is also an important accomplishment as Namibia was one of the few to do so and the other countries are still struggling to realise this goal.


Innovation is not something that is uniquely Namibian. In fact, in the local context, we are more consumers of the innovation rather than being the creators of it. We thus have to create an environment in which innovation can take place. The rise of social media and other platforms and applications is a new element and an example of innovation. We want to promote innovation, so we will allow it to proceed and put measures in place where we can regulate it.

In terms of network coverage, we also have about 96% of the ountry covered with 2G, while about 83% of the country has access to 3G connectivity. Looking at where we were a few years ago, it is a huge accomplishment.The opening up of the market to the previously disadvantaged individuals and communities is another milestone that we have attained. There is now a significant number of radio stations owned by previously disadvantaged communities and individuals, which was not the case previously. This is a deliberate step because with the community radios, there was a need for the communities to generate their own content and disseminate it. We now have community radios in almost all the key towns.

In what way is innovation championed at the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia?

Technology is a product of innovation and CRAN has to play the role of facilitating this innovation. We are not the players or innovators, but we facilitate to make sure that the people who have the ability and energy to innovate are accomodated.

Innovation is not something that is uniquely Namibian. In fact, in the local context, we are more consumers of the innovation rather than being the creators of it. We thus have to create an environment in which innovation can take place. The rise of social media and other platforms and applications is a new element and an example of innovation. We want to promote innovation, so we will allow it to proceed and put measures in place where we can regulate it. This is important so that we ensure that they are contributing like other players in terms of paying taxes, providing the requisite quality of service and their service level agreements. The OTT (Over The Top) applications like WhatsApp, Twitter etc are not regulated and this not uniquely a Namibian problem but one that exists the world over. There is thus a need to implement ‘light touch’ regulations to ensure that they are allowed to operate, but in a regulated space.

We also try to support innovation locally. We have Memorandums of Understand (MoUs) with the National Commission on Research, Science and Technology (NCRST), the University of Namibia, International University of Management and The Namibia University of Science and Technology. This is to cooperate in various areas concerning ICT and science and technology.

The only problem with innovation is that due to the lack of emphasis or financial support to research and development, it often suffers. This means that there may be people with great ideas but due to a lack of funding, they may end up not being commercialised. We thus support the NCRST when it has its Research Week as well as NUST’s cyber-security initiatives. We see that as our contribution to innovation.

How much importance is placed on training and capacity building at CRAN?

Having worked both in the private and public sectors, I have not seen an organization that prioritises or puts more emphasis on training more than CRAN.

About 5% of our pay-roll is dedicated to training and development and this highlights the organization’s commitment to training its people as both professional and academic training is fostered here. We believe that since the world is changing and we operate in the ICT sector which is also changing all the time, we need to upscale and train our people.

CRAN, as a small organization and a State-Owned Enterprise, is subect to various requirements in regards to the public enterprises operations and this means that attracting and retaining skills will see us competing with companies that can offer attractive remuneration and benefits. What we have done to address this is to bring in our people, either highly skilled or not, and train them ourselves, either through mentorship or exposing them to training programs. This is something that we take pride in at CRAN. Although we have been adversely affected by the economic downturn and had to scale down our budgeting for training, it is still prioritised more than at any organization I have seen.

What reforms would you bring to local corporate governance in Namibia, if given the chance?

The key thing is to look at addressing the issues of the nation as well as the organization one serves. If I were to change something, I would look at the skills and competencies that we deploy to serve at strategic and operational levels. This includes people who serve on boards, as part of management teams, as well as at the technical levels.

We need to seriously look into skills and competencies when making these appointments and at times political or emotional criterion are used to try and create a balance, but there is a need to identify the requisite skills and competencies for particular positions, if the goal is to get the most out of them.

It is important to identify qualities such as maturiy and experience, which is not necessarily about age, but rather one’s ability to handle the tasks given as well as how they react to situations in the workplace. The principles of commitment and dedication are also things that should be sought because if people have the right qualifications and competencies but do not have the dedication and commitment, not much will be achieved.


How do you envisage the growth of the ICT sector over the next decade and what measures have been put in place to ensure that CRAN is well equipped to manage this growth?

ICT is becoming converged. This means that nowadays any player can offer any service. We see that there will be a lot of convergence of services within the ICT sector and that will help to narrow the gap between telecommunications and broadcasting. With that emergance, it will require most players to update their business models. Broadcasters will have to look at how they can compete with platforms such as Netflix.

As a regulator, we will then have a pivotal role to play by providing direction and ensuring that the sector is where it needs to be. We will also have to establish trust in the sector so that the products and services are not subject to scams and cybersecurity threats. That is an ongoing challenge that will be addressed by the Electronic Transaction Bill and the Cyber-security Act.

When you one day vacate the Chief Executive Officer position at CRAN, what would you want to have accomplished?

Legacy may be something that is personal for some people, however, what is important for me is the sustainability of the organization. I want to leave behind a stable and independent entity. The stability refers to its ability to carry out its functions with minimal problems in all aspects and the independence is about our ability to regulate the sectors we have been mandated to without undue influence either from the licensees, consumers or other third parties.

I would also want to leave behind a financially independent organization. I would never want to see CRAN in a position where it is one day unable to fund its operations.

I would also want to see CRAN continue to create a very competitive environment and fair play for the players. To achieve this, we have put in place competition regualtions that will serve the players in the three sectors.

I also want to leave behind an environment where there is access to affordable ICT products and services for all Namibians.

Lastly, I’d like the organization to be forward-looking and foster innovation by facilitating the creation of ICT products and services.


Wessie van der Westhuizen

Ohlthaver and List (O&L) Group of Companies appointed Wessie van der Westhuizen as its new Chief Executive Officer, a role he assumed on 01 July 2019.

Van der Westhuizen, who was the head of Namibia Breweries Limited, is replaced Peter Grüttemeyer, who retired in June 2019.

As part of an array of changes at O&L, the organization, one of the largest corporate entities in Namibia, with diversified portfolios, described the moves a new chapter brings with it endless opportunities to define the role it plays in positively impacting the Namibian landscape through absolute and consistent operations in breakthroughs all the time,

The new managing director at NBL will be Marco Wenk, who currently serves as managing director at Broll Namibia.

Monique Cloete

Liberty Life Namibia in April 2019 announced its acquisition of the full shareholding of Specialist Administration Services, an established boutique retirement fund administrator based in Windhoek.

As of 01 May 2019, Specialist Administration Services’ Managing Director and founder, Monique Cloete, assumed the Managing Director position at Liberty Life Namibia, taking over from Christell Loots.

Liberty’s South African parent said the acquisition signals its intention to expand its presence in Namibia beyond its long-term insurance and investment business, adding that local demand for diversified solutions is rising commensurate with a growing middle class and business community.

Upon assuming the new role, Cloete said she is proud to be part of a well-established business such as Liberty and that its ambitions and plans for the Namibian market present exciting opportunities for its customers, staff and other various stakeholders.

Bisey Uirab

Bisey Uirab was appointed the Chief Executive Officer of the Namibia Airports Company (NAC) on a 5-year term in May 2019.

Uirab, a seasoned executive, joined the NAC from the Namibia Ports Authority (Namport), where he successfully implemented a robust 5-year strategic plan encored on infrastructure development and the support of the logistics sector.

Uirab was a catalyst in the development of the N$4,3 billion container terminal at Walvis Bay. The long-term infrastructure development plan for the North Port development at Walvis Bay, effectively paves the way for Namibia to build one of the biggest bulk handling facilities on the African continent.

The port’s local procurement empowerment and capacitation strategy also saw an 80% local procurement of services under his leadership, while N$25 million was pumped into communities through corporate social initiatives.

Uirab has been tasked with replicating the same success at the NAC.

NOTABLE EXECUTIVE APPOINTMENTS 2019


Erwin Tjipuka

FirstRand Namibia Limited appointed Erwin Tjipuka as the Chief Executive Officer of FNB Namibia, a position he assumed on 01 April 2019. Upon assuming the role, Tjipuka expressed his intention to to devote significant time and effort to pursuing new and innovative opportunities that have tremendous opportunity for value creation for both the organization’s customers, as well as its staff.

Tjipuka, most recently the managing partner at Deloitte Namibia, had previously been a part of the FNB Namibia team as he served as the Chief Financial Officer from 2008 to 2012.

He holds an MBA from the Maastricht School of Management as well as a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from the University of Namibia, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Accountancy from the University of Cape Town.

Tjipuka has over 20 years of professional experience and has served private and public-sector clients in his role as audit partner and Head of the Namibian Advisory department, working closely in business management and business transformation.

Sarel van Zyl

Sarel van Zyl, the recently appointed Chief Executive Officer of FirstRand Namibia, was in July 2019 appointed as chairpersona of the Bankers Association of Namibia (BAN), taking over the position from Standard Bank Namibia’s Vetumbuavi Mungunda.

Van Zyl was also appointed the Chief Executive Officer of FirstRand Namibia Limited in April 2019, vacating his previous role of Chief Executive Officer of FNB Namibia.

As part of the role, FNB Namibia will chair the various sub committees forming part of the BAN structure which include; Credit, Treasury, Human Resource, Accounting & Tax, Compliance, Legal, IT, Operational, and Public Relations.

The Bankers Association of Namibia was established in 1997, in accordance with the Banking Institutions Act, as the representative trade association for the commercial banking sector in the country. BAN acts as a medium for communication with government, the Bank of Namibia as regulator, and other public bodies and authorities, by engaging with them on matters affecting the different activities of banks. Through the BAN, members deal with non-competitive issues that are of common interest.

Johannes !Gawaxab

Johannes !Gawaxab was in April 2019 appointed the chairperson of the High Level Economic Panel, aimed at reviving the local economy by attracting both local and foreign investment.

!Gawaxab, a tenured executive at various levels, led the panel to the successful hosting of a two-day national Economic Growth Summit in Windhoek under the theme; ‘Economic Revival for Inclusive Growth – Strengthening the Namibian House.’

The summit was further aimed at reviving and growing the domestic economy, creating job opportunities, attracting investment, promoting the country as an attractive investment and tourist destination and identifying and removing bottlenecks that are slowing the growth of the economy.

The !Gawaxab-led panel reportedly secured N$50 million in pledges, which falls in line with its overall objective of securing investment amounting to U$ 1 billion over a 24-month period.



Mushrooms Media CC [trading as PTW Media] will in November 2019 be publishing The Board 2020, a publication that profiles Namibia’s leading board members as well as the organizations they represent, while also outlining their unique contributions to the three tenets of commerce, innovation and leadership.

The magazine, which will be published on an annual basis, will serve as a reference point for the key players and contributors to corporate leadership in Namibia for the year in question.

The publication will further chronicle the strategic focus of the aforementioned board of directors and will use numerous platforms to disburse these unique stories.

THE BOARD 2020

For participation in this publication:email [email protected] or contact (+264) 81 565 2437

The Executive | 2019 The Executive | 201980 PB

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NDTC Air Namibia Featuring Namibia’s Top Executives...The upgrading project, to start in 2019,...

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