Keynote Address

Ms Ellencia Hanse

Director: General Services in the Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Service

Mrs Hanse commended the private sector through RDJ Group and their supporters, Standard Bank Namibia, Future Media Group, and Fresh FM for focusing the discussion on the needs of Namibia’s treasured asset “Our Youth”. She further emphasized the Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Services’ mandate and how this event “Imagine The Future: Youth and Finance” aligns with the ministry's objectives and planned initiatives targeting the unemployed youth The Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Services’ mandate is focused on the promotion of youth empowerment initiatives as expounded in the third national youth policy With the current economic challenges, it is a much-needed discussion that is both timely and relevant

In addressing youth unemployment, the Ministry has mainly focused on:

Young people who do not meet the entry requirements into tertiary institutions, including vocational training centers. Youth who need startup capital to start their own businesses.

Therefore, the Ministry’s employment creation programs and projects over the years have been focusing on skills development in areas such as tailoring, basic computer skills, agriculture production, civic training & volunteer service The Ministry has spent over Twenty Million Namibia Dollars (N$20 000 000) over eight years under the National Youth Credit Scheme to help young people to start businesses The Ministry is cognizant of the fact that more still needs to be done and thus, the Ministry is engaged in a process to review its youth empowerment programs with the aim of re-launching and operationalizing the Credit Scheme in this financial year 2023-2024.

In conclusion, the Ministry expressed profound appreciation that Initiatives of this nature are of significance as sports not only promote economic development and healthy lifestyles but also act as a catalyst for social cohesion

Khadijah Mouton Senior CopywriterStandard Bank Namibia

Dream It, Believe It, Achieve It. It Can Be

Kadijah used her personal career journey as proof that dreams can be achieved if one believes in them Khadijah is a 2-year university dropout who went on to become a DJ and is now a Senior Copywriter at Standard Bank Namibia, one of Namibia’s leading commercial banks. Khadijah took her time as a DJ to find herself, what she likes, and what her interest was She then realized that she loved language and speaking so she then went back to university and completed a bachelor's degree in English at the Namibia University of Science and Technology Upon completing her degree, she landed her first job at One Africa TV as salesperson and eventually found herself at Standard Bank Namibia For her Standard Bank’s brand message “Dream It, Believe It, Achieve It. It Can Be” perfectly complimented well with who she was as an individual – the message of being a dreamer, putting in work to achieve and accomplishing your dreams, and saying to people it can be done For dreams to be achieved there must be ‘Balance and Duality’. Dreams only work if you do, there needs to be some kind of balance! Dream it, take that dream that you only see in your mind, put in the work to achieve it, and put it in the world. Money only works if we do Further, she planted a seed in the youth on how they are going to find a balance between dreaming and achieving their future Standard Bank’s job as a bank is to create solutions that are available to you that give you access to your dreams; solutions such as a bank account, study loans and bursaries. This is because they understand that access is the first step towards you achieving your dreams and their dream along with you! “Standard bank is here, and we exist to assist you to finance you into going towards your dreams!”

Luisa Hango President of the Unam Investment Society