Teamwork key for Shimuafeni

Gabby Tjiroze Statistician-general and CEO of the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA), Alex Shimuafeni, says the past two years has realised “tremendous progress”.“We were able to develop data accessing tools such as the NSA app (free to download and with offline accessibility) and the Geoportal for viewing infrastructure with statistical characteristics. We have also seen the further development of statistics and spatial information, as Namibia is one of the few countries where the spatial data is integrated in the national statistics offices, as per the provision of the Statistics Act,” he said.Shimuafeni assumed office in April 2016, after he left the Namibia Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), where he worked for five years.He says his first two years at NSA was no walk in the park. “My first two years was a rollercoaster because the NSA operates in a dynamic environment, where we collect data for processing and analysis and subsequently publishing, as per the Statistics Act No. 9 of 2011. I assumed duty during the period of external auditing and annual report writing, which is done in a period of three months after the close of the financial year. During this time, I had to deliver what was required from me, without the luxury of making excuses of being new.”He is no stranger to the statistics world, where he was also a chief statistician during the early days of his career at the trade ministry, as well as head of price statistics at the then Central Bureau of Statistics. He has been in executive and management positions for 15 years. He was also part of the executive management committee at the National Housing Enterprise (NHE) from July 2007, for close to five years, where he was responsible for the management of the home loan book of more than N$500 million.Before joining the NBC, he was in the private sector as part of FNB Group management, where he served as the group manager: market research & intelligence. He was responsible for market research projects, as well as gathering competitor intelligence information, which includes pricing information, market share analysis as well as strategy formulation for the FNB Group (FNB, insurance companies and other subsidiaries). At FNB he was the co-founder of the first-ever housing index, now called the FNB Housing Index.Outlining the philosophy of the NSA, Shimuafeni says it is about teamwork, as well as building on the foundation left by founding statistician-general, Dr John Steytler.“I am proud of the staff members who do their job with zeal despite the many challenges we are facing. The NSA staff are highly qualified and highly skilled and despite challenges of lack of exposure, as a result of inadequate funding, as well as the fact that they are stretched with limited opportunity for specialising, they remain determined. “We have a relatively young workforce that are also creative and innovative and as a result keep on challenging the status quo. With the current staff that we have, coupled with the necessary support, the NSA has a bright future,” Shimuafeni said.He holds MBA and Master of Statistics degrees obtained from The Regent Business School (South Africa) and The University of New South Wales (Australia).He also has international working experience and was part of a team that opened an office for a joint venture between Telecom Namibia and Angolan telecommunications company Mundo Startel from June 2003 to December 2004.His typical day is always divided between general management and strategic focus areas. “I start my day with urgent administrative matters that will ensure people carry out their daily tasks in order to produce the end result of producing quality statistics that will enable the policymakers to make informed, evidence-based decisions. Simultaneously, I ensure that whatever we do is in pursuit of achieving those strategic goals, which we have set out for ourselves. In a dynamic situation as this, it is easy to lose focus of the bigger picture and hence the reason why I need to keep track of the six strategic goals that we have set out to achieve, which include development of human capital, effectiveness and efficiency, sustainability in funding, as well as the promotion of the use of statistics for evidence-based policy, planning and decision-making,” he added. Shimuafeni has been a board member of New Dawn Productions, a subsidiary of Kalahari Holdings, since October 2016. Free timeWhen he’s not in the office, he is a philanthropist. He is a founder member and chairperson of the Donkerhoek Social Club, a charity organisation that was established in 2015, with the aim of assisting the elders of Donkerhoek, Katutura where he was born and bred as a child.

Teamwork key for Shimuafeni

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-01

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Teamwork key for Shimuafeni

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-01

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