DBN honours young entrepreneurs

Gideon Haufiku, of Ohangwena Plumbing Services and Thomas Hamutenya of  Etosha Mini Market in Onamutai, have received DBN awards as Best Achievers in the National Youth Council’s Credit for Youth in Business Programme. The winners of the awards were identified at the National Youth Expo 2011, held in Rundu earlier this year.
With seven years of experience under his belt, Haufiku established his own plumbing company in 2005. The company now employs five individuals. From small jobs, the company graduated to services offered in construction of houses and swimming pools. In a sign of the level of maturity of the business and the capacity that it has developed, Ohangwena Plumbing Services recently won a tender to erect toilet facilities for the Ohangwena Regional Council.
In addition to his cash award from DBN, Gideon Haufiku also makes use of a DBN bridging finance loan to enable him to fulfill the financial requirements of the tender.
With the help of DBN bridging finance, he has increased his staff complement to 12 for the tender to build toilet facilities in Ohangwena. He has also begun to expand his operations to include trading in plumbing materials.
The second recipient of the award, Thomas Hamutenya of Etosha Mini Market, showed entrepreneurial acumen from his high school days, when he began selling  sweets to his school mates. After school he worked in a grocery shop, and opened his own shop in 1994.
Hamutenya, who now has five permanent employees, and  has never looked back. Etosha Mini Market has proven such a success in Onamutai that it now also operates as a restaurant. Hamutenya has used the award to expand his operations and open a small grocery shop in Ohadiwa village in the same region.