The Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB) has deployed five Investment and Export Promotion Attachés (IEPA) to strategically selected markets as it seeks to attract more investment into the country.
PSG Namibia expects the country to rake in N$7.3 billion (US$502.1 million) in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) this year, up from N$5.7 billion (US$394.1 million) recorded in 2021, driven by increased investor confidence, higher commodity prices, and exploitable opportunities in the country’s renewable energy sector.
The NIPDB said the Attachés will be its representatives in Sub-Saharan Africa (Pretoria), the Middle East and North Africa (Cairo), Europe (London), Asia Pacific (Beijing), and the Americas (New York).
Among the chosen Attachés, Tunga Mboti will be stationed in the Middle East and North Africa (Cairo), Tina Andima in Europe (London), Tokkie Nchindo in the Asia Pacific (Beijing), and Lwaba Jario in the Americas (New York).
The Attachés will assume a regional market representation responsibility and play an oversight role for locally recruited staff and other stakeholders in other countries in their regions, to maximize the utilization of limited resources.
NIPDB CEO Nangula Uaandja said the organisation has been developing investor-focused marketing tools that will ensure consistency and performance in attracting FDI.
This follows the development of the Foreign Representation Framework (FRF) which provides the guiding principles for foreign representation deployment and enables the Board to implement results-driven investment promotion, attraction and facilitation.
“The NIPDB intends to take a more direct and targeted approach to investment attraction. The Attachés will be supported by a technical team who will provide market intelligence that will allow them to target investors in key sectors. This will enable us to target the type of investor we would want to attract to Namibia,” said Uaandja.
Catherine Shipushu, the NIPDB’s Senior Manager of Marketing, Branding and Communications, said the Attaché postings are aligned with the general provisions of the Foreign Service Rules administered by the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation (MIRCO), and was developed in consultation with MIT and MIRCO.
“With the NIPDB assuming the role of Namibia’s Investment Promotion Agency, overseeing the deployment of investment-focused Attachés now forms part of the Board’s mandate which necessitated the development of the FRF,” said Shipushu
She added that the Framework sets clear criteria for IEPA recruitment processes, formulation of IEPA Terms of Reference and Key Performance Indicators as well as operational and administrative matters.
The FRF will be reviewed periodically based on new developments and trends.
“The Board is cognisant of the important role that diplomatic missions play in investment promotion and attraction. Accordingly, as part of our stakeholder engagement strategy, the Board has hosted regular information sharing sessions with Namibian Diplomatic Missions on Investment and Trade Promotion, to support missions’ efforts of facilitating economic diplomacy,” Shipushu.
