Namibia is emerging as a country to watch as new offshore oil and gas discoveries, growing mining activity and investment in green hydrogen begin to reshape its economy.
With a population of just over three million people, the country is positioning itself as a future energy and natural resources hub.
“I don’t think anyone would have thought that we’re going to face this inflection point four or five years ago,” said Angelique Peake, Sector Head for Oil & Gas, Energy, and Resources at RMB Namibia.
However, this ambition comes alongside ongoing challenges, including limited local capacity, infrastructure demands and the need for broader development.
“We’ll need the international and the global players to play, but we also see the opportunity for the region, and naturally it creates an opportunity for major upscaling, major growth in potentially a systemic manufacturing and industrial Namibia.”
Peake explained that the central challenge will be ensuring that the country’s resource growth translates into job creation and wider economic benefits.
She noted that foreign investment and external expertise will be important in the early stages, but meaningful local participation will take time.
“Some of this is so complex and high capital, high skill, many, many years of experience requirement that Namibians can’t play in that space quite yet. But a lot of these international companies, these global companies that play in this all over the world, are already coming and starting to train some Namibians to play in this space because they know and want to make sure that Namibians will play a role here.
“The beauty is, if we do this right, we can create a system that works together and uses the same infrastructure, and then the ecosystems are multiplied many times.”
According to Peake, Namibia’s industrial growth is likely to unfold over the next 10 to 20 years as the country develops the necessary skills, infrastructure and supporting industries.
