MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR

MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR 2022-10-24T10:15:23+00:00

When I look around me and I see businesses working hard to regain their place in our economy, not only do I feel proud, but also excited for what the future holds. If we as a nation can overcome the effects of a pandemic and the challenges that came with it, with its ripple effects still evident after two and a half years, we can overcome anything. What further provides peace of mind is that we also know we are not alone in this fight. The whole world has been fighting with us and will continue to do so. Based on this it was only fitting to choose a theme that can bring forth positivity, hope and motivation: ‘Reviving an economy’… Reviving OUR economy!

If we were to dissect the words of our theme, the word ‘economy’ is defined as the system according to which money, industries and trade is organised. To revive is to ‘regain life’, to ‘give new strength or energy to’. In our pursuit of reviving the economy, Namibians would have to take action by giving it new strength and energy to become active and successful again.

We need to challenge ourselves to think about how we are going to revive our industries, our interests, talks, fortunes and employee wellbeing. We see tourists returning to our beautiful country, we see creativity that Namibians birth daily to make a living, we see change all around us when it comes to leadership and employee wellness. We know that our workforce was highly impacted by the pandemic. The 2021 Deloitte Namibia Human Capital Covid-19 Flash Survey Report under the subheading ‘Unpacking the impact ofCovid-19 on the employee experience’ illustrates how differently each Namibian organisation has been impacted by the pandemic, but despite the unique nuances each organisation holds, the data suggested key similarities in the challenges we have to solve. Employee wellbeing and the needed support from leadership was highlighted. Leaders need to change how they think about, engage with and manage teams.

An article of 19 June 2020, by Jan Bellens, EY Global Banking & Capital Markets Sector Leader, and George Atalla, EY Global Government & Public Sector Leader, asks whether the road to recovery will lead to an economy that is revived or reimagined. According to the authors, the World Bank forecasted the global GDP to shrink by 5.2% in 2020 with recession in both advanced and emerging market economies. This would make the crisis following the pandemic the worst recession since the Great Depression and far worse than the Global Financial Crisis, which led to a 1.8% drop in global GDP in 2019. Countries around the world have responded to the immediate need to manage the Covid-19 crisis with extraordinary levels of effort and rising fiscal support.

We have to agree with the above article from EY, that “While every crisis is different, we can learn important lessons from how previous crises were managed. Governments, financial institutions and businesses have a strategic opportunity to shape the recovery and the future economy in a way that will reframe the future to deliver a more sustainable and more equitable revival.” We share these sentiments, and it is our passion at Namibia Trade Network and our hope for Namibia. We look forward to this journey.

In the PwC Namibia 25th Global CEO Survey of 17 January 2022 it states: “As we near the two-year mark of the pandemic, the global economy has rebounded from the depths of mid-2020. The 4,446 CEOs from 89 countries and territories who responded to the 25th Annual Global CEO Survey display optimism about continued economic resilience.” In our continuous drive to build a stronger Namibian business sphere, we wish to encourage all businesses to share leadership articles, reports, podcasts, motivational talks and much more, which we can re-share during the coming year to contribute to ‘the optimism and continued economic resilience’ which would all contribute to REVIVING AN ECONOMY.

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Daleen Small