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Gold in a card

After realising that the majority of Namibians have business ideas but not the knowledge or the resources to implement them, Penta Stream Investments, a Namibian consulting company came up with Penta Gold based on an employment creation concept.
Speaking to The Economist this week, Pauline Itah of Penta Stream Investments said the aim of the concept is to establish a database-driven business platform where business individuals regardless of their academic background can register for business empowerment across Namibia. “Our main line of business is business leadership training and micro funding of SMEs. Many youth and middle aged citizens have no jobs, and have no business training to set up and grow a small or medium enterprise. We created a gold card concept to provide a form of occupation to thousands of youths who can take advantage of this economic development card to build up funds either for furthering their education or to generate business capital”.
The Gold card is a special PVC access card given to Penta Gold members. Gold card bearers earn N$10 per new member introduced to the network. Accumulatively, this money can be claimed daily, weekly or monthly using the Gold card. A Gold card is valid for one membership year and costs N$100.
Penta Gold is a private sector initiative that has been primarily set up for existing SMEs (Small or Mediums Enterprises) and individuals who may be planning to set up a small or medium enterprise.
Penta Gold was launched in a market that desperately needs capacity building of SMEs to enable them to maximise local trade and investment opportunities.
Itah also said that the concept has been received well by the public but faces challenges of recovering loans, impatience from members and misleading rumours from competitors. The company is in the process of getting more partners.

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