Exile kids eye business ventures

Children born during the liberation struggle, under the Namibia Exile Kids Association (NEKA) umbrella, want to join the mainstream economy by forming business ventures to profit from the resources Namibia has to offer.

Exile kids have for years pleaded for special treatment from government as far as jobs and other related opportunities are concerned.

The plan to venture into business is contained in NEKA’s recently launched 2022-2024 Strategic Plan, in which the association expressed concern that there is a lack of government-specific programmes to support NEKA’s interests.

“This initiative is aimed at bringing NEKA into key business sectors of the economy. With the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic and economic recession, NEKA needs to position itself to partake in viable business venture,” the plan states.

The plan specifically mentioned the agriculture sector as an area of interest.

NEKA says it plans to pursue ventures within the agricultural sector as well as through other viably defined business ventures, as well as through collaborative joint ventures.

NEKA currently operates like a briefcase company with no staff or office to operate from, in fact, its national executive members are full time employees elsewhere.

“This makes it very difficult for the association to effectively run its affairs. This initiative is aimed at establishing a NEKA office with full time employed personnel that will carry out the day-to-day activities of NEKA. Through this it is envisaged that increased operational efficiency will be brought about,” NEKA said.

Under the leadership of Rauna Amutati as president, NEKA is hoping to play an enabling role by providing exile kids with the necessary skills to do business, this includes chasing tenders.

NEKA plans to host seminars around the Public Procurement Act in order to upskill its members around the national procurement processes and laws.

“NEKA strives to capacitate its members with knowledge of the PA and PPA Acts in order to enhance their ability to tender for viable goods or service rendering opportunities. This will enable NEKA to unlock the economic dividend available.”

NEKA also wants to provide scholarship and grants for its members in various fields of interest by mobilizing resources for educational purposes.

As for job opportunities, NEKA says the High Court judgement against the employment of exile kids has disadvantaged the them tremendously.

The High Court last year ruled against a Cabinet decision to reserve job posts solely for Children of the Liberation Struggle.

Stumbling blocks

Despite the move to venture into business is welcomed by the more than 12 000 NEKA members, there are hurdles threatening the association’s commercial vision.

Chief amongst those, NEKA pointed out, is disunity amongst members.

Other challenges include the lack of organisational resources, ineffective mobilising and registration process, lack of ownership of the membership database and the lack of brand identity tools such as a website and effective social media platforms is also hampering it from growing.

Going forward, NEKA also wants to build relationships with stakeholders, such as affiliating to the Swapo Party.

However, with the dynamics of the domestic political landscape and Swapo losing its strong grip across the country, NEKA is treading carefully.

“[With]the changing political landscape, if key stakeholder SWAPO goes down, NEKA will also go down,” the association noted.