Erongo Marine’s Fish-4-Business Challenge 2016 has delivered 6 new Fish Shop owners, bringing the total Fish Shops as part of the Fish-4-Business project to 7.
The Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Hon Bernard Esau, congratulated the 7 finalists of the Fish-4-Business Challenge 2016 after completing of a 3-day business skills training workshop conducted by SMEs Compete in Walvis Bay during the second week of August 2016.A concept shop was launched in September 2015 (Fish Shop No 1) in Onandjila Village close to Okahao in the Omusati Region. Early in 2016 a nationwide search for prospective new shops was launched, promoted through a newspaper and radio advertising campaign. Out of more than 600 entries received, 25 shortlisted candidates from all 14 regions in Namibia were chosen. All sites were inspected by the Fish-4-Business team and subsequently 6 new sites were identified.
The 6 new shop owners received an investment to the value of roughly N$300,000, which includes a walk-in refrigerated unit erected on-site, two in-store display fridges, improvements to the actual shop including a fresh paint job and branding, as well as a start-up “capital investment” in the form of 2 tonnes of frozen horse mackerel and 100 trays of canned Efuta Maasbanker for resell by the shop owner.
In addition to the above, all shop owners were brought to Walvis Bay for a 3-day business training workshop conducted by SMEs Compete and were taken on a fishing industry familiarization tour in Walvis Bay.
The total budget earmarked by Erongo Marine for the Fish-4-Business Challenge 2016 is N$2.8 million.
The Fish-4-Business project is an empowerment initiative by Erongo Marine Enterprises (Pty) Ltd that targets small business entrepreneurs in rural Namibia. The objective of the Fish-4-Business Challenge 2016 was to seek out promising small shop owners in Namibia’s rural communities and empower them to grow their respective businesses through the sale of horse mackerel and specialised business training and mentoring. In this way those entrepreneurs will directly contribute to poverty alleviation, increased local fish consumption and food security in rural areas - overall to the development of Namibia’s economy.
