Sectors such as welding, agribusiness and small-scale manufacturing hold significant potential for job creation and economic recovery in Namibia, Economist and Cirrus Capital co-founder Rowland Brown has said.
Speaking at the Taking Stock Namibia 2025 forum hosted by Moore Infinity and Ellis & Partners in Windhoek, Brown argued that while large-scale projects in oil, gas and green hydrogen remain important, they are unlikely to generate sufficient employment to tackle the country’s high unemployment levels.
Instead, he identified smaller, locally anchored industries as central to a jobs-led recovery.
“Our current business environment is structurally hostile to start-ups and small enterprises,” he said.
“Financial institutions remain risk-averse, and regulations are designed with large, stable companies in mind, leaving fragile small businesses struggling to survive and grow. If we cannot support small businesses, we cannot solve our unemployment crisis.”
Brown called for a shift in mindset, urging that businesses be recognised as partners in national development rather than viewed as liabilities.
To support this, he recommended reforms to simplify compliance processes, remove unnecessary regulatory barriers and provide targeted support services for SMEs. He said such measures would help create an enabling environment in which start-ups and small firms can thrive.
Namibia’s challenge, he stressed, is not a lack of talent or ideas, but the absence of a supportive ecosystem.
“We are not in a crisis of employees. We are in a crisis of employers. And the solution lies in making it possible, profitable and desirable to build and grow a business in Namibia,” he said.
