Lüderitz Crayfish Festival at month’s end

The Lüderitz Crayfish Festival has proved to be the event of choice on the Namibian events calendar this year. It will be celebrating its 7th anniversary on 30 April until 05 May 2014, at the Lüderitz Waterfront. The brain child of the Lüderitz communities, with the purpose of bringing them closer together and to invite friends and relatives to visit the town of Lüderitz, the event has grown from a zero budget to a fully operational fund with members of trustees, and it is now able to fund itself through various sponsors. The event, which started off in 2008 with only 23 exhibitors, stood at 122 exhibitors in 2013. The event has been able to attract up to 7,000 visitors in 2013, and it has grown from strength to strength. The exhibitors vary from SMEs to corporates, including a variety of government ministries.

The aim of the festival is to create a platform for SMEs to showcase their products and different services they offer, for the private and public sectors to interact with their consumers, to introduce news services and products and to position their brands. At the official launch serving as a fund-raising gala dinner, which took place last week Friday, 04 April 2014, the keynote speaker, Hon. Chief Ankama, the Deputy Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, told the fully packet conference room of Nest Hotel that “it is important that business people, who have and still are benefiting from the natural resources of Lüderitz in the form of fishing quotas awarded by government, invest in the communities where they operate from, and supporting the Lüderitz Crayfish Festival is just one of the activities which they can involved in.” Hon. Ankama further informed the gathering that the event has become highly desired in a short period of time and is a symbol of hope. The fund-raising gala dinner, which saw the festival generating around N$230,000 in pledges only, was attended by various senior officials from government and public sectors, business personalities as well as high officials from local and regional council authorities. Lüderitz offers much in terms of recorded history, tourist attractions and crayfish as well as other unique seafood cuisines, and it has the potential to become a gem worth investing in. With the railway about to reach the township of Lüderitz, it will attract more investors in different sectors. Preparation for this year’s Lüderitz Crayfish Festival are in full swing. With a much larger exhibition venue, the event will see around 80 Exhibitors from Corporates, public and private sectors as well as SMEs from all corners of Namibia. There are a number of activities lined up that will add value to the festival and also attract more visitors than in previous years.