Logistics – backbone of Namibia’s development
By the tender age of 20, Jesaya Mwandingi, a 3rd year Logistics student at Namibia’s University of Science and Technology (NUST), has already reached dizzy heights in the Logistics sector.
The Economist, earlier this week, caught up with Mwandingi, who is the President of the Logistics Society, so that he could share the the role and importance of the logistics sector in the country.
Jesaya said he discovered Logistics in his last year of high school through his older sister, and thus decided to do research on the subject.
Mwandingi said that Logistics is a key element to the development of any country, and stressed that without logistics there will be no form of development.
With regard to why Logistics is important in Namibia, Mwandingi said that for a young developing country such as Namibia which exports semi-finished or raw materials to other countries, logistics plays an essential role in the transportation of these goods, thus contributing directly to the Gross Domestic Product of the country.
Speaking on the difficulties experienced in Namibian Logistics, he said the country still has a long way to go, “if you look at the NDP4, one of the desired outcomes stipulated in this plan, is a roadmap of Namibia up to 2016/17, to enable Namibia to take a sizeable share of the regional logistics and distribution market, it has been there, however it is something that most Namibians are only starting to acquaint themselves with.” Mwandingi said.
The young man shared that despite this setback, Logistics is a field that is growing on a tertiary level, as NUST offers a Bachelors Degree in Logistics, whilst the Namibian German Centre for Logistics (NCCL) offers a Diploma and Masters Degree in the subject.
The Logistic’s Society at NUST gives students the opportunity to see what happens in the industry. The society organises an annual trip to Walvis Bay to expose students to the distribution market and study fleets of sea cargo ships, thus teaching them about what logistics is about, as many students are not knowledgeable on what it is about.
Other activities involve seminars on Logistics and public lectures by professional logistic managers from Air Namibia. The president of the Logistics Society encouraged the youth to take up the field as it is quite broad with a variety of opportunities in the job market.
