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Tag: Namibia 2024

  • Former Nigerian Local Content Head to Share Best Practices at Namibia International Energy Conference (NIEC) 2024

    WINDHOEK, Namibia, April 2, 2024/ — Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote, former Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), will speak at the upcoming Namibia International Energy Conference (NIEC) 2024, unlocking newfound collaboration between the two countries on local content policy development and implementation.

    Since his appointment in 2016, Wabote has been a fierce advocate of local beneficiation for both Nigerians and Africans across the sector, steering strategic national programs to build local capacity, calling for enhanced transparency in contracting processes and boosting local manufacturing capabilities.

    The NCDMB serves to review Nigerian content plans developed by operators, set guidelines and minimum content levels for project-related activities across the oil and gas value chain and engage in targeted capacity building interventions, among other key responsibilities, with a view to achieving 70% local content by 2027.

    Energy Capital & Power is a strategic partner of the Namibia International Energy Conference (NIEC) – taking place in Windhoek on April 23-25, 2024. The 6th annual conference unites industry leaders, business executives and policymakers to engage in dialogue, exchange ideas, create new partnerships and identify strategies to foster a prosperous energy industry in Namibia and beyond. For more information, please visit https://www.nieconference.com/

    Having spent 26 years at Shell Petroleum Development Company Nigeria, Wabote offers a unique private sector perspective on local content development and compliance, with roles spanning business management to government relations to local content strategy. During his tenure at the NCDMB,

    Wabote established a series of impactful initiatives including the $350-million Nigerian Content Intervention Fund, which provides affordable credit for Nigerian oil and gas service companies and local contractors, as well as the $40-million Women in Oil and Gas Intervention Fund, created in partnership with the Nigerian Export-Import Bank.

    These policy interventions, pioneered by the NCDMB under Wabote’s leadership, could serve as a blueprint for other African countries seeking to directly translate oil and gas revenues into local content development. Namibia, for its part, is in the process of drafting its own National Upstream Petroleum Local Content Policy, following a series of high-profile offshore discoveries since 2022.

    The southern African country is seeking to establish an effective policy that enables training and skill development, job creation and the participation of national companies and service providers across the sector, with a view to generating and retaining local value.

    As Namibia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy continues to consult with stakeholders on its draft policy, NIEC 2024 represents a valuable platform to exchange local content best practices, as well as catalyze new investment in infrastructure, capacity building and technology.

    The NCDMB is one of the key features that sets Nigeria’s local content policy apart in that it oversees and implements the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act, while forming strategic partnerships with leading industry players and educational institutions.

    “As an emerging producer, Namibia can learn from mature markets like Nigeria when it comes to establishing a comprehensive local content framework with specific guidelines.

    Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote has been a long-time champion of accelerating indigenous participation in oil and gas contracts and ensuring that policy interventions support national local content targets.
    A well-formulated local content policy is critical to creating both backward and forward linkages across Namibia’s value chain that ensure oil and gas resources are leveraged for inclusive growth,” says Selma Shimutwikeni, CEO of Rich Africa Consultancy, organizers of NIEC 2024.
    Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Energy Capital & Power.

    SOURCE
    Energy Capital & Power

  • Namibia’s Landscape to Shine at the Africa Hospitality Investment Forum 2024

    Namibia’s Landscape to Shine at the Africa Hospitality Investment Forum 2024

    The Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF), which is the premier tourism and hotel investment conference in Africa, attracting many prominent international hotel owners, investors, financiers, management companies and their advisers, will take place on 25 – 27 June 2024, in Namibia.

    The venue will be the Mövenpick and Mercure hotels in Namibia’s capital city, Windhoek. Both properties are receiving a total makeover after they were acquired in 2021 by a fund managed by Kasada Capital Management, the leading independent real estate private equity platform dedicated to the hospitality industry in Africa. Consequently, AHIF will showcase the relaunch of both properties

    For many delegates attending AHIF next year, the conference will involve a “safari” in more ways than one. The weekend before AHIF will feature various inspection trips to see some of Namibia’s best hospitality investment projects and tourism attractions. They include spectacular desert scenery, awesome adventure sports and sensational safaris, on which it is possible to see endangered black and white rhino, antelope, cheetah, elephants, giraffes, hippos, lions, ostriches and zebras. The trips will not only be educational; they will also provide valuable networking, as participants will also include delegates from AviaDev, Africa’s premier airline route development conference, which will be scheduled at the same venue, at the end of the week before.

    In the seven-year period prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Namibia’s tourism sector had been growing consistently. According to the country’s Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism, visitor numbers grew by around 5% per annum, from just under 1.2m in 2012 to 1.6m in 2019. However, the pandemic pummelled the country’s tourism industry, with visitor arrivals in 2020 falling below 200,000. Since then, they have recovered – by 40% in 2021; and they jumped by 98.1% to 461,027 in 2022.

    Nangula Uaandja, Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of the Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB), said: “Securing the bid to host AHIF 2024 is not just a win for Namibia, but also an affirmation of our national potential. We are delighted to welcome the international hospitality investment community to explore the untapped investment potential of our tourism industry. Namibia is a strikingly beautiful country, with picturesque landscapes that are guaranteed to charm at first sight. More than that, we are a country that is committed to developing our people by attracting foreign investments that catalyse economic activity and employment creation.

    Our government is deliberate about sustaining a conducive investment climate, supported by progressive regulatory and policy frameworks, a strong legal system, seamless repatriation of profits and an independent judiciary that protects the rights of all investors, and that allows disputes, if they arise, to be settled through the courts or international arbitration”.

    Olivier Granet, Managing Partner and CEO, and David Damiba, Managing Partner, and CIO, Kasada Capital Management, said: “We are proud to be partnering with the Bench on AHIF 2024 and look forward to welcoming guests to Kasada’s newly refurbished and relaunched Mövenpick and Mercure hotels. The full refurbishment at Namibia’s leading hotel complexes and conference centre is a testament to our strategy of bringing capital and expertise to enhance the hospitality sector in key cities across Africa.”

    Matthew Weihs, Managing Director of The Bench, which organises AHIF, concluded: “We are very excited that AHIF will, for the first time, go to a SADC country next year. Investing in Africa is all about uncovering and seizing new opportunities. To do that, one needs to expand one’s horizons by going to different places, meeting new people, and exploring alternative scenarios. By scheduling AHIF and AviaDev either side of a weekend in Windhoek and laying on a selection of inspection trips for our delegates, we will be doing just that, as well as offering them unrivalled networking, which is a vital ingredient of any conference.”