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Team Namibia highlights local benefits for member companies

Team Namibia highlights local benefits for member companies

Team Namibia made an urgent appeal this week to all local businesses, irrespective of whether they are producing goods or services, to secure their membership of Team Namibia to benefit from the association with the brand.

Producers and manufacturers are equally prompted to register their products with Team Namibia in order to display the “Team Namibia Product” logo on their ware, the association said in a statement.

“This will ensure that they get the necessary exposure through their association with the Team Namibia brand. Through the efforts of Team Namibia, they will also benefit from local consumer awareness and with the intention increase their sales volumes through local supply chains, and thus capture a larger share of the market,” they added.
According to the statement, members of Team Namibia also have the authorisation to show proof of their membership certificate when bidding or tendering for business, in addition to displaying the “Member of Team Namibia”logo on their stationery and marketing material.

Mareka Masule,founder of Ilotu Investments said, “Team Namibia has truly been impactful. We have definitely felt the level of respect for our brand increase after adding Team Namibia’s logo to our materials.”

“We definitely do feel even more confident knowing that Team Namibia is a huge part of our backbone when it comes to getting our products to whom they’r eneeded, more effectively, by organising events such as the recent retail speed dating event that has opened up retailers arms to welcoming Ilotu Cosmetics onto their shelves. We hope that more Namibian business will become a part of the Team because of a wise man once said, “If you want to reach there quickly, go alone; but if you want to go far, go together,” Masule added.

Meanwhile, the Association said in an economy such as Namibia’s, it is very important for local producers and manufacturers to ensure clear visibility of their products to potential customers in-store.

Team Namibia offers its members the competitive advantage that comes with displaying their trademarked logo on products produced locally. Producers who want to display the “Team Namibia Product” logo on their products must first receive authorisation to do so. Product code registrations for members is N$100 per code, whereas non-members pay N$20,000 per product code, the Association said.

The Association furthermore encouraged retailers to collaborate with efforts that capacitate local producers to reach market access requirements, which many of the large ones already do through skills and entrepreneurship development initiatives, to meet requirements of Namibia’s Retail Charter.

Bärbel Kirchner, account director at Team Namibia said, “This will ensure that we build our own capacities and increasingly become self-reliant and ensure our sustainable economic development and employment. We need our products and services to be bought. We might not always be able to compete on price and therefore must work towards levelling the playing field and initially support our own. In this way, we can create employment”.

Meanwhile, producers have been urged to engage other stakeholders in the economy such as retailers and consumers, most importantly, Team Namibia, and work together in the spirit of Uumkumwe (collaboration) to competitively earn shelf space for locally produced goods in supermarkets and corner shops and convenience stores.

“As a result, it will inspire a strong sense of national pride that arises from sustainably supplying Namibian consumers with Namibian goods and services,” they concluded.


Caption: It is very important for local producers and service providers to make their products easier to identify as local quality offerings in the marketplace. For further information about membership benefits, Team Namibia can be contacted at Tel. 061 417410.


 

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