Close to N$1 million raised for Helao Nafidi expo

Pledges from businesses and individuals at the Helao Nafidi Town Council business expo gala dinner held on Saturday saw the council raise N$945 150 to host its 12th expo edition.
The top four pledges were made by Joram Civil Works who pledged N$270 000, second was Merlyn Properties with a pledge of N$155 000 and third was Chicco Building Supply who pledged N$60 000 while Fysal Fresh Produce, Groot Group and a joint venture of Ndakalimwe Investment and Mawila Technical came in fourth position with N$50 000 pledges respectively.
Last year at the same fundraising event they raised N$527 000 in pledges.
The Minister of Urban and Rural Development Sophia Shaningwa was the main speaker at the event and encouraged the business community especially small- to medium enterprises (SMEs) to make use of the opportunity to grow their business through networking with one another.
“Our government welcomes the initiatives of Helao Nafidi Town Council which seeks to facilitate and coordinate developmental programmes to promote entrepreneurship, income generation and SME development which will ultimately contribute to our national development goals and to the Harambee Prosperity Plan,” she said.
Shaningwa said expos and trade fairs are critically important because of the serious challenges of unemployment, poverty and hunger the country is faced with. She further said expos and trade fairs hold the key to both wealth creation and progress to ensure that Namibia does not remain marginalised within the global economy.
“We all have the primary responsibility to ensure stability and poverty reduction remains a high priority. By working together we can capture the opportunities of the African markets and global trade,” Shaningwa said.
Apart from encouraging businesses to grow and expand, Shaningwa also called on the Namibian business fraternity to diversify and produce goods and services which cater for the needs of the Namibian and African people as well as the global village.
“I also call upon all the businesses to make use of the conducive environment presented to you by our government to improve your business by thinking about diversification of your operations to produce the products and provide the services needed by our markets locally as well as regionally and of course internationally,” she said.
On behalf of the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development, Shaningwa said her ministry will continue supporting the local authorities in terms of infrastructure development and housing, which she believes in the long-term will boost the economy of the town.
The Helao Nafidi business expo which will be held under the theme ‘Shared vision to defend economic crisis’ will take place next month starting from 21 October up until 29 October.