Woman MD now leads Erongo Marine Enterprises
Dr Martha Uumati is the new Managing Director of Erongo Marine Enterprises, the second-biggest company is the so-called midwater segment of the fishing industry. Erongo Marine specialises in catching and processing horse mackerel, the low-costs source of protein for a very large part of the populations in West Africa, Nigeria and the Congo.
Dr Uumati started in her new position on Wednesday. She assumes the lead role following the retirement of Mr Calie Jacobs, himself an icon in the fishing industry. Jacobs served Erongo Marine for 19 years. His dedication and commitment ensured that Erongo is now a respected, progressive fishing company.
Jacobs remains on the board of directors for another two months until the end of March this year. He will continue as a Trustee of Arechanab Community Trust with a specific role in Fish-4-Business, Erongo Marine’s flagship Corporate Social Investment project.
Erongo Marine Enterprises is a Namibian horse mackerel fishing company operating two dedicated midwater trawlers that account for a combined annual catch of approximately 60,000 tons. As one of the largest fishing companies in Namibia and second largest employer in the horse mackerel industry, it enjoys joint ventures with key empowerment partners. Horse mackerel is caught and processed for sale in the Namibian, South African and West African markets through trade agreements with its holding company, Oceana Group, the largest fishing company in Africa with dual listing on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange and the Namibian Stock Exchange.
In her new role as Managing Director of Erongo, Dr. Uumati will oversee the company’s horse mackerel business. One of her primary roles is to provide strategic leadership that will further develop and strengthen relationships within the industry.
She is committed to the sustainable utilisation of Namibia’s blue economy, particularly the fishing sector and the numerous communities that the industry supports.
She combines impressive academic credentials with a wealth of practical, high level experience in Fisheries Management. Her internationally accredited qualifications include a Bachelor of Science in Natural Resources (University of Namibia), a Postgraduate Diploma and a Master of Philosophy in Fisheries Biology and Fisheries Management (University of Bergen, Norway) and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Marine Biology, specialising in Fisheries Acoustics (University of St Andrews, Scotland).
In addition to her experience as a Fisheries Biologist at the National Marine Information and Research Centre in Namibia, she excelled as both a Marine Ecosystems Acoustic Researcher and Pelagic Fisheries Acoustic Scientist at the Institute of Marine Research in Norway. Until her appointment as Managing Director of Erongo, Dr. Uumati divided her time between her role as Lecturer and Researcher at the Namibia University of Science and Technology and as co-founder of Avisha Investments.
