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Factories for Investors, Shops for Namibians: Lessons from Botswana After 36 Years（https://www.thevillager.com.na/opinion/2026/factories-for-investors-shops-for-namibians-lessons-from-botswana-after-36-years/）
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Factories for Investors, Shops for Namibians: Lessons from Botswana After 36 Years
Opinion（https://www.thevillager.com.na/category/opinion/）
3 November 2026（https://www.thevillager.com.na/opinion/2026/factories-for-investors-shops-for-namibians-lessons-from-botswana-after-36-years/）
By: Josephat Inambao Sinvula
Namibia gained independence in 1990 to empower Namibians. Thirty-six years on, what went wrong?
Botswana offers a lesson. Under its Trade Act (Act 25 of 2019) and Industrial Development Act (Act 23 of 2019, in force from 1 June 2020), it reserved over 30 low-capital activities for citizens: 17 under Trade and 21 under Industrial manufacturing. At small scale, the business is 100% citizen. At medium-to-large scale, foreigners may take part only through joint ventures with citizens holding at least 51%. Fronting, where a citizen lends their name to a foreign-run business, is an offence: up to P50,000 for a first offence, and a fine plus up to two years in jail for repeat offenders.
Botswana’s own officials admit that fronting persists and that the policy is hard to police. The lesson is that a list without enforcement fails.
Some of Botswana’s reserved activities
Trade Act: car wash, cleaning services, curio shop, florist, fresh produce, funeral parlour, general dealer, hair and beauty parlour, imported pre-owned cars, internet café, laundromat, take-away.
Industrial Development Act: bread and confectionery, ice, meat processing, peanut butter, water purification and bottling, bricks, school uniforms, packaging.
What went wrong in Namibia?
Our post-independence open-door policy was well-intentioned but flawed. Under the Foreign Investments Act 27 of 1990, we came to treat almost every applicant at Immigration as an “investor.”
A person opening a clothes shop in China Town, a cellphone shop or a hair salon is not an investor. An investor brings millions, brings technology, builds a factory that employs hundreds and adds value to Namibian raw materials.
Instead, the Immigration Control Act 7 of 1993 has been used to issue work and business permits for businesses Namibians could run. A local who pays municipal fees and supports a family cannot compete with a trader who has external supply chains and works 14-hour days with family labour. I am not targeting a nationality but a business model: low-capital retail trading.