NCCI to reduce bureaucracy with new strategic plan in pipeline

The Namibian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI) has started reviewing its work for the year in preparation for their new five-year strategic plan set to be implemented with the incoming national leadership to be elected in their next AGM in June as revealed this week.
During NCCI’s first media briefing of the year at their offices, the president of NCCI, Martha Namundjebo-Tilahun, stated: “One of key strategic objectives which we are determined to achieve in the next two to three years is to work with government and other stakeholders to make Namibia as the number one country to do business in Africa and to improve our competitive ranking on the World Economic Forum competitive index.” She added, “Our recent survey within the private sector has clearly shown that the private sector is very unhappy about the fact that we have been falling in many international rankings, and we are determined to have this situation changed fast.”

Namundjebo-Tilahun explained that the most significant reason for the country to lag behind is because it has not been making sufficient and bold reforms aimed at reducing bureaucratic bottlenecks and creating efficiency within the system in order to make doing business in Namibia less costly and more profitable. “The bureaucratic bottlenecks which have been identified will have to be dealt with swiftly with a view to eliminate inefficiency in the system. This will be the single biggest focus of the NCCI leadership in the next two to three years and we will leave no stone unturned in our quest to achieve this,” she stressed. With the new NCCI strategic plan under construction, Namundjebo-Tilahun stated that it will reposition its brand to reflect the diverse and wide nature of its mandate and purpose. “It will also involve the review of the membership categories as well as the benefits and services for our members going forward. The secretariat has been hard at work towards the new business strategy and brand repositioning of the Chamber, and we hope that these will be key discussion points at our AGM later this year,” she said.
She highlighted that during the past month or so, some of the NCCI’s branches held elective branch AGMs, and in terms of their constitution, branches have until end of April to hold their AGMs and have new branch leaderships elected.
“These AGMs at branch level will feed into the national elective AGM in June, at which very crucial strategic decision will be made,” she concluded.