Know2Grow Nextgen Entrepreneurs Showcase 2023

Some young graduates are heeding the call to create employment for themselves by starting business ventures.

nbc News spoke to some of the graduates who have started their own businesses at the Know2Grow Nextgen Entrepreneurs Showcase 2023 at Swakopmund.

26-year-old Frieda Amadhila, a biochemist by training, now polishes gemstones for a living, and she says she does not regret her decision.

Amadhila moved from Swakopmund to establish a gemstone cutting and polishing business in Windhoek.

“Actually, sometimes you might feel like you know you can do something, but you feel like you are not good enough. Just start. Start with where you are, what you have and what you can do or use. I think the key point is just to start because, along the way, I mean, when I started, I was not like all of this. I feel like we learn along the way. You will figure it out, opportunities will come your way, and eventually, you will have a clear vision.”

Amadhila says she cuts and polishes gemstones with basic tools because of a lack of capital to invest in machinery and expensive industrial equipment.

Similarly, Regina Penda, an information technology graduate from the Namibia University of Science and Technology, established a venture far from her field of study.

Penda makes candles from soybean wax, a sustainable and innovative use of organically grown beans.

Her company, Scented Grace, aims to show young Namibians that they can produce products that can perform and compete at global standards.

“The biggest challenge was actually getting the raw product in Namibia. It was very difficult to find the raw material, so I had to make friends in SA to get it for me during COVID-19, and it was really a big issue for a lot of businesses. It just came about when my friends and family supported me and told me to actually go on and not just have it as a hobby but to sell it to people, and attending expos like this really assisted me.”

Another is 37-year-old Diana Namases, a former traffic officer whose inspiration for watchmaking derived from a trip she took to China.

Namases is now a proud owner of the business Sage by Dee Brand, which won an award in 2018 for Simply Your Lifestyle and Fashion in the Favourite Accessories Designer category and was a two-time nominee in 2020 and 2022 in Lagos and Zambia.

Her business is in collaboration with a company in China to manufacture her products.