One on one with Tarah Shaanika

With over 3 200 registered business members, the Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI) currently represents the interests of more than 90% of Namibia’s GDP in private hands. Since its establishment after Namibia gained its independence in 1990 and a structural reorganisation in 1998, the organisation has been a staunch advocate for structured dialogue between government and the business sector – while frequently voicing opinions on subjects ranging from perceived corruption, to bills passed without public input, and the need to improve local production levels. Denver Isaacs of Business 7 sat down with NCCI CEO Tarah Shaanika to discuss his views on current legal reforms tabled for deliberation, the state of business confidence in Namibia and the NCCI’s prospects going into 2016. B7: Considering some of the challenges facing the Namibian and global economy, including drought conditions, low commodity prices, and a depreciating currency, what are your views on the current business climate in Namibia, and the economy’s ability to negotiate these? TS: Challenges are not meant to last a lifetime. And I don’t believe the challenges we’re facing now will be there for ever. Though as a country there are things Namibia needs to do in order to address the challenges it’s currently facing it. One of these is the issue of electricity shortages, which has the potential to cripple our efforts towards industrialisation and achieving growth at home. Next, we need swift and decisive action in terms of addressing the current water shortages, because without water you won’t find businesses. I’m very happy government is talking about expanding vocational training capacity in the country, as there is no way we can address unemployment among youth without rapidly developing skills. Ideally, we should have a vocational training institute in every region. In terms of annual intake, no young person willing to be trained should be refused because of there not being a relevant institution, or relevant programmes for them to receive such training. We cannot achieve innovation without skills, so we need to teach our young people to do agriculture, to do welding, to repair water pipes. These skills will allow them to find something productive to do, and to create something for themselves. B7: You have always spoken of the need for better dialogue between government and the business sector. There are a number of regulations currently in the pipeline which will potentially affect the local business environment, including new BEE legislation, and particularly a clause to introduce employee shareholding in local businesses. How much involvement has the NCCI enjoyed in terms of deliberating on these, and what is your view on communication between business and government? TS: If I may firstly address the issue of government and private sector communication: That is very important, and a lot of times our lawmakers make the mistake of assuming they know what the people, or the private sector, want, since they were elected by the public. But in most cases they don’t realise when you legislate certain things that affect business, you ought to speak to the businesses involved and get their input on what they think will be the effect. Is it going to be positive, negative, or both? In the past we’ve seen legislation passed without proper consultation. One such bill featured prominently in the media was the marine resources amendment bill. The chamber represents over 3 200 businesses, and our membership constitutes about 90% of the country’s GDP in private hands. You cannot ignore such an organisation. Even if only providing us with a draft bill to get our input and comments. That would be transparent. The local authority amendment bill was another one which went through without any consultation from our side. We received no response from government to our written request for consultation on this bill. Unfortunately, some of our politicians become very emotional, and construe requests for consultation on these matters as personal attacks on them, which is not the case. What we really want, as concerned Namibians living in the same house as our political leaders, is to be able to contribute and give meaningful input where we can. And we do believe our members have valuable input to make. The need for such input gave rise to the NCCI’s “competitiveness agenda 2020”, which speaks of improved dialogue between government and the private sector. On the New Equitable Economic Empowerment Bill (NEEEF): Concerning the new empowerment bill - to say it was long overdue is an understatement. This is something which should have come into place 24 years ago. Namibia has a history of segregation and apartheid, where black people were legislated into poverty. To be a source of cheap labour, while white people were legislated into the anointed group, to enjoy prosperity and the wealth of the country. That is the unfortunate history we have. I believe it is this that our forefathers who wrote the constitution had in mind when they said "lawmakers shall make laws that should correct the past injustices and inequalities in our societies". Though, because this legislation comes 26 years after independence, the dynamics have changed. At that time the economy was really in the hands of white Namibians and South Africans. Today, the economy is largely in the hands of foreign business interests. Somehow, I think people feel this bill would target a few white Namibians, and that is not the case. Namibians are not the dominant force in our economy, and our biggest challenge at present is to ensure that the larger part of our GDP remains in the hands of Namibians. Personally I’m not so bothered whether the economy is in the hands of blacks or whites, but what I deem important is that black people should prosper, and that we close this economic gap between the races. Also that the larger part of the economy is controlled, owned, and benefits Namibians. We need to assure our white compatriots that there won’t be any grabbing or unfair transfer of “their” assets to black Namibians. The legislation should never target bringing down the standards of living for white people. It must not target disempowering whites in any way, in terms of their current wealth. But I think the legislation must target empowerment of black people. The president talks about poverty eradication. We don’t really have poverty among whites, we have poverty among blacks. So in tackling poverty alleviation, we must aim to take blacks out of poverty completely. The legislation should be geared towards growing the cake so that the cake can be shared by more, and not necessarily to sharing the existing cake in its existing size. It's also wrong I think for the media and the public to focus exclusively on shareholding and business ownership, which was one of seven proposed pillars of poverty alleviation. Not every white person is a business owner. Not all black Namibians want to own businesses. We must support those who want to, but others want to do professional work without necessarily owning a business. Some want to be lawyers, medical doctors, and when they reach the right age, they want to retire. Some want to be preachers, others want to work the land. So the emphasis should not be on ensuring every black Namibian owns shares somewhere. I also don’t believe in targeting certain communities and given them shares. It’s not as easy as that in business. There are challenges. Holding shares does not give you guaranteed financial resources. There are companies who don’t declare dividends for ten years, either because they’re on an aggressive expansion drive preventing dividend pay-outs to shareholders, or maybe the market simply doesn’t allow them to make enough money to warrant such. Whatever the case may be, shareholding should not be considered as instant income. But communities can be assisted in many ways, and one of the pillars of empowerment agreed on is corporate social investment by companies (CSI). Though CSI, you can ensure targeted assistance. If a community needs water, avail one million to bring in pipelines to improve their conditions. Another way to impact on communities is skills development. It just looks to me like society is saying, as a black Namibian, the only way to become wealthy is by acquiring shares in existing businesses, or businesses started by others.