Packaged, easily available fish for everyone
Honourable Benhard Esau, Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources at the commissioning of Paragon Investment Holdings’ trucks, freezers and packaged “Tjao Fish.”(Photograph by Mandisa Rasmeni)
The freezers and packaged fish will be distributed across the country to unemployed vendors. The packaged fish is horse mackerel called “Tjao Fish” which weighs 1kg and will be sold at N18 per package to the public.
Lazarus Jacobs, Director of Paragon Investment Holdings (PIH), said that the shareholders agreed that with the money they get they should invest in Namibia and this is how Paragon Seafood Products came to be. “The project has two phases, and we are currently in the first phase and by next year we will start with the second phase, our philosophy is to feed the nation at Paragon,” said Jacobs.
Honourable Benhard Esau, Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resource said that this project will ensure that only the desired size and quality is selected for the customer as sea frozen horse mackerel will be carefully graded and packed onshore at a Walvis Bay based seafood processing plant.
“Through this project, PSP will literally bring the product in convenient packaging and affordable pricing to the doorstep of many Namibians, who would otherwise not be able to have access to fish, let alone afford it,” Hon. Esau said.
Desmond Amunyela, Director: Business Development, Paragon Investment Holdings added that they are targeting unemployed citizens to sell “Tjoa Fish”, to help improve their lives and therefore the price of the fish will not change as time goes by.
“We want people stop selling alcohol in their cuca shops, we want each household that has electricity and is in a remote area to sell ‘Tjao Fish’,” emphasized Amunyela.
Hon Esau concluded by saying that it should not be ignored that the project creates self-employment and job opportunities, starting at the processing plant, drivers for the trucks as well as people to man the refrigerated containers, but mostly an opportunity for grass root entrepreneurship is created for local vendors
