The Ministry of Industrialization and Trade, in collaboration with the German Sparkassenstiftung for International Cooperation (DSIK), has embarked on the training of 1,400 medium enterprises across the country on business skills.

The programme, which aims to transform micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) will run until the end of July, and will mainly focus on MSMEs in the mining and agriculture sectors.

These include areas of management, business planning, forecasting, record keeping, budgeting, and market expansion.

The Minister of Industrialization and Trade, Lucia Iipumbi, urged participants to engage actively, enhance entrepreneurship development, and strengthen their capacity.

"The partnership is aimed at strengthening the capacity, especially of the micro, small, and medium enterprises in Namibia, through the provision of business stimulation training workshops and also ensuring that the enterprises are developed. No one opens a business to remain at their level; I know that when we start a business, our thinking capacity is to make a profit so that it will be able to carry us through and I will survive. But I want you, as entrepreneurs, to think big and think of growth. If you sell five fat cakes when you start the training and tomorrow you want to grow, think about how I can add another component of other foodstuffs from my sales of fat cakes so that I can grow my business."

The project manager of the DSIK, Angela Njunju, is optimistic that the training will enhance the participants' financial literacy.

"The simulation offers participants a risk-free environment in which entrepreneurs can try things out. The simulation's main target is to teach people to identify problems' causes and to analyse correlations by interpreting the results and evaluating player performance."