President Hage Geingob today officially opened the Oshakati Open Market valued at N$80 million.

The Oshakati Open Market is integrated with the long and short distance bus terminal.

It is named after prominent business man Dr. Frans Aupa Indongo who hails from Oshakati, and has capacity to accommodate over 500 vendors and is expected to boost the local economy by attracting existing and prospective business.

“Through appropriate support, the informal economy can become a gateway towards prosperity for our people”, Hage said.

The president further said the government understands that the informal economy plays a crucial role in the development process of developing countries as it provides livelihoods for the majority of the people.

“Not only will this facility provide employment opportunities for many Namibians – it will also help serve as another front in our collective war against poverty”, he said.

The president further said that by providing Namibians in this economic sector with appropriate facilities for conducting their respective businesses, they are being provided with a stepping stone to mature into Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) into fully fledged companies in the future.

“According to the Namibian Labour Force Survey of 2014 which was carried out by the Namibia Statistics Agency, 41.4% of the Namibian employed population are employed in the informal sector. The significance of this sector is further highlighted by the fact that 59% of the employed population within urban areas are employed in the informal sector. Here in the Oshana region - out of the 57,288 people employed - 20,796 are employed in the informal sector, representing 36.3% of the total number of employed people in the region”, Dr Geingob said.