Voices of SMEs

Lineekela Josef, 26, is the owner of Glamorous Nails, a nail parlour in Ongwediva. After completing a nail course in 2017, Josef started doing nails at home while attending the International University of Management (IUM) for her bachelor’s degree in marketing management."I am always eager to grow, so I opened a small nail shop to work as a nail technician and sell nail products. I have three different branches in the northern part of Namibia, which are in Ongwediva, Ondangwa and Outapi. I currently employ five women and I have trained over 100 aspiring nail technicians to date," she said."We are very excited to have the trade fair back, as this gives us the opportunity to market our company more and put ourselves out there, as not many people are aware of the kinds of products we sell, especially people that live in the surrounding towns."Josef said there are multiple ways small businesses can benefit from the trade fair, even if they don’t exhibit at a stall."We will benefit from distributing our pamphlets around the trade fair to prospective clients, which will give them a brief overview of what we do and where we are located. We are definitely open to more growth and more opportunities, and will also look at what other businesses are offering and what we are not aware of. It is also good for more networking opportunities," she said.ExposureJoel Mwatilefu, owner of Joe's Fade Cuts Barbershop in Ongwediva, said young people should make use of the trade fair to make a profit for themselves and promote themselves and their businesses. "The trade fair does not only help with selling, but it exposes the young entrepreneurs to a variety of businesses. I will see how creative the entrepreneurs are as I will be buying items from there and getting the information I need from different corporations that will have stalls. Another reason why it is a great platform is that it brings government service institutions right to our doorstep," Mwatilefu said.He also said the absence of the trade fair resulted in a lack of money circulating among SMEs. "There was a need to showcase products crafted with our own hands, but we couldn’t promote this. I would, however, like to request the government and corporate institutions to provide more services so we will be able to be entertained and also complete tasks such as licence renewals etc."

Voices of SMEs

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-08-21

Please login to leave a comment

Voices of SMEs

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-08-21

Please login to leave a comment

Login