Trade Ministry, UNDP host fundraiser for SDG impact facility
The Ministry of Industrialisation and Trade and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) hosted a fundraiser for the Sustainable Development Goals Impact Facility (SDGIF) on Thursday, 11 November.
The fundraiser served as a platform for critical decision-makers and captains of the industry within Namibia’s public and private sector to collaborate towards providing sustainable solutions to the MSMEs by contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals Impact Facility (SDGIF). The event also saw the launch of the Namibia Sustainable Development Goals Investor Map Report.
The SDGIF is valued at N$8 million and Standard Bank has matched the facility by availing optional loans for MSMEs. This has brought the total funds disbursed from the SDGIF to N$ 3.1 million for the SDGIF Window 1 grants supporting 35 businesses in agriculture, nutraceuticals and artisan sectors. Up to N$41.5 million worth of applications were received under Window 1.
The Minister of Industrialisation and Trade, Lucia Iipumbu at the event recognised the economic uncertainties and pressures currently experienced by businesses and individuals and stressed that the fundraising event is expected to ‘further cement’ a long-lasting partnership with private and public sectors.
“In addition, it is also imperative that our efforts should strive to ensure that we develop enterprises, be they micro or large, that can create social impact and are attuned to the Sustainable Development Goals. It is also vital that both the public and private sector continues to generate market intelligence that can posit our economy towards new avenues and sectors of growth such as those espoused in the Investor Report that we are launching tonight,” she said.
During the event, beneficiaries of the impact facility were presented with cheques for the grant receivables to their business.
Kgomotso Mokgatle, the focal person at the Environmental Investment Fund of Namibia for the SDGIF said it has made an immense impact on these businesses is not only providing funding, creating jobs “but ultimately in empowering the informal sector through offering funding and technical assistance to these entities as well as helping them register and enter the mainstream markets, as some of our recipients will attest to in a short while.”
Minister of Industrialisation and Trade, Lucia Iipumbu.
