Following recent announcement of new COVID-19 regulations by His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Namibia, Dr Hage Geingob, which amongst other things limit public gatherings to a maximum of 10 people to curb the increase in infection rate, in the country, Agribank announces the suspension of the countrywide women and youth networking sessions with immediate effect.

The Bank in collaboration with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, through its agricultural project Farming for Resilience (F4R), partnered to embark on a countrywide series of networking sessions, targeting women and youth in agriculture, hosted under the theme “creating women and youth Agri-preneurs.”

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH committed funds towards this partnership and the objective of these networking sessions is to provide insight into the various Agribank loan products under the Women and Youth scheme that was launched last year, while addressing obstacles on the loan product application journey. Free lectures, and training as well as a podcast broadcasting targeting established, and emerging farmers also take place during these sessions.

So far, the networking sessions covered Noordoewer, Aussenkehr, Oranjemund and Luderitz in the //Karas region as well as Maltahohe, Aranos and Rehoboth in the Hardap region. The Bank will continue to monitor the environment and the public will be informed when the face-to-face networking sessions will resume. In the meantime, Agribank urges all Namibians of all walks of life to continue to adhere to the Covid-19 safety regulations, go for voluntary vaccination, as well as to regularly wash hands, sanitise and wear their masks in order to contribute to the flattening of the infection curve.

Agribank has announced that its chief executive officer, Sakaria Nghikembua, will leave the bank at the end of July when his term comes to an end. The board has emphasised that Nghikembua has served his full term and has opted not to renew his contract for a second term. He will take up a role as Group Chief Executive Officer of Momentum Metropolitan Namibia effective 1 August 2021.

The board and bank employees thank Mr Nghikembua for elevating the bank to become a premier agricultural lender and for his contributions since 2016. Through his leadership Agribank was put on a new, exciting growth trajectory. The bank’s 5-year strategy was devised and implemented. Financial sustainability became a long-awaited reality, resulting in significant growth in the bank’s loan book, its interest income as well as loan repayment and expense management discipline. The governance environment was strengthened, making Agribank one of few public enterprises to complete its annual audits punctually and hold its annual general meetings on time. Agribank has become a customer-focused lender in Namibia’s most important socio-economic sector, agriculture. Numerous new products were launched, such as the salary-backed no-collateral loans, the emerging retail financing product and the women and youth scheme. The bank’s accessibility to clients was improved with new branch offices at Gobabis and Grootfontein, whilst the Zambezi branch in Katima Mulilo was moved to more customer-friendly premises. The bank implemented a robust performance management system and managed to recruit highly skilled executives, managers and employees at all levels, all of whom have played a key role in the implementation of the bank’s strategy.

Commenting on Nghikembua’s contribution, Board Vice Chairperson, Dagmar Honsbein stated: “It is regrettable to have to lose Mr Nghikembua to the private sector. The value he added was immense, and the board and the bank’s employees will continue to build on this solid foundation.” Honsbein added that the bank’s strategy and policies aimed at ensuring its sustainability, whose implementation Nghikembua dutifully championed, will continue. She further stated that the process of recruiting a new chief executive officer is well underway and the public media will be duly informed.

On his part, Nghikembua says that he relished his role at the bank, adding: “I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to serve in this public service role over the past five years. We have done some fantastic things and have achieved quite a lot in a difficult operating environment. We have in place a good team that will continue to implement the strategy to ensure we consolidate the gains of the past years. I am truly grateful”.

Issued by:
Dagmar Honsbein
Board Vice Chairperson
For enquiries, kindly contact the Marketing and Communications Division
Tel.: 061 2074308/10 Fax: 061 2074206 Email: info@agribank.com.na

Namibia’s Premier Agricultural Lender (Agribank), opened a new office in Grootfontein today, as part of its on-going strategy to put clients at the centre of its activities. The Bank has a continuous strategic objective of providing access to a wider client base, through both physical offices and the use of online services. Three years ago, the Bank opened an office in Gobabis, Omaheke region and towards the end of last year, it relocated its office in the Zambezi region, based in Katima Mulilo, to new and more customer-friendly offices. In the 2021/2 financial year, the Bank has budgeted to renovate its Otjiwarongo and Rundu offices to improve customer experience and service delivery at every level of contact.

In his keynote address at the inauguration ceremony, the Governor of Otjozondjupa region, James Uerikua, who officiated at the event, applauded Agribank for setting up a branch office in Grootfontein given agriculture sector’s important contribution towards the Namibian economy. The sector is also the largest employer in Namibia, despite a sustained economic recession over the past 5 years. While the Covid-19 pandemic poses some serious challenges to Namibia’s food sustainability in the short term, Uerikua said there is an opportunity to accelerate transformation in the agricultural sector to build its resilience in the face of these challenges.

“It is against this setting that I consider the opening of the Grootfontein office as an important step towards unlocking the agricultural growth potential offered by the Otjozondjupa region, since this region, particularly the Maize Triangle Area, is known for relatively high rainfall and endowment with groundwater resources required for improving agricultural productivity. “I thus congratulate the Board and all Agribankers respectively for their vision to bring services closer to the agricultural communities and for implementing this vision. What an outstanding achievement in the midst of tough economic and climatic environments?” Uerikua stated. He explained that as a government expects state-owned enterprises to be managed on a financially sustainable basis whilst providing much-needed goods and services to all Namibians, irrespective of where they live. “I am fully aware of the positive achievements which Agribank has been making over the past five years”, he concluded.

Speaking on behalf of the Agribank board, Peyavali Hangula described the opening of the new office in Grootfontein as a yet another milestone in the Bank’s journey towards customer excellence, as it enables the Bank to expand its reach, and improve its accessibility to clients and stakeholders nationally. She said the Otjozondjupa region is an important farming region in the country, which balances both livestock and crop production, making it equally important to Agribank, whose mandate is to support agriculture through funding. “It is against this backdrop that we felt it necessary to increase our footprint in this region. Today, we gathered in Grootfontein to open our second office in the Otjozondjupa region”.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by the Governor of the Otjozondjupa region, James Uerikua who was the keynote speaker, Grootfontein Mayor Lovisa Iyambo, Agribank Board members and senior management, farmers as well as other key stakeholders from the region.

Issued by:
Rino Muranda Manager: Marketing and Communication
For enquiries, kindly contact the Marketing and Communications Division Tel.: 061 2074308/10 Fax: 061 2074206
Email: info@agribank.com.na