Gendev gears up to scale new heights

Gendev, which prides itself as the first ever, in the history of Namibia, to open a state-of-the-art horse mackerel onshore processing plant, has a long presence in the local industry and is still going strong. Initially starting off in the pilchard industry, the company took the decision to reconfigure the cannery into a wet horse mackerel onshore processing plant to support the Government of Namibia in their struggle to bring prosperity to all Namibians and improve standard of living through on shore employment created by the fishing industry. “This decision of the shareholders of Gendev has led to major investments in the factory and the acquisition of a specialised wet landing horse mackerel vessel Krossfjord using own shareholder funds and that of local banks,” the company said. The wet onshore processing plant, which is 72% Namibian-owned, was inaugurated in 2014 by Honourable Minister Bernhardt Esau Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources.

Adding value

Gendev offers ownership in N$220 million worth of property, plant and equipment. The company is also part owner of N$200 million worth of vessels, including a long line hake vessel, a horse mackerel freezing vessel, a vessel to land wet horse mackerel for value addition onshore and two small pelagic vessels. It has, in addition, offered participation in an experienced fishing, processing, marketing and selling group of companies with established value-added products and markers, creating through its operations 939 Namibian jobs. This is for its wet landing and onshore processing of value addition horse mackerel quota, wet hake catch and processing, as well as sea frozen horse mackerel. The workforce due to onshore processing consists of 55% females versus 45% males. Gendev uses its N$100 million Namibian-flagged vessel Krossfjord to catch and land wet horse mackerel at its factory to process onshore. Gendev also uses its N$50 million Namibian-flagged vessel Venus I to catch and freeze horse mackerel freezer quota on sea. The vessel owning companies are majority Namibian. Gendev has spent N$60 million upgrading and expanding its factory to a state-of-the-art onshore processing horse mackerel factory that not only packs frozen products but also adds value onshore to products. “Horse Mackerel 1kg IQF retail bags, Omega Polony made of horse mackerel and horse mackerel sausages are amongst the value-added products that have been introduced to the markets and can already be found in retail stores throughout Namibia and South Africa under the brands of Gendev.”

Sustained prosperity

The company also added that it is committed to support government’s call to bring about prosperity to all Namibians as per the fifth national development plan (NDP5). “…and thus during the 2018 right application process (we) humbly requested the Honourable Minister Bernhardt Esau and his Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources to grant Gendev a long-term horse mackerel right and to allocate to their right 55 000 tons of horse mackerel quota, which will be applied as to 35 000 tons value addition quota landed as wet fish with their vessel Krossfjord and processed onshore to sustain full employment at its shore based processing plant, as well as to 20 000 tons horse mackerel to be processed and frozen at sea through its investment in the sea frozen vessel Venus 1.”

Other contributions

Gendev has consistently ploughed back to the community through corporate social responsibility initiatives, while along with its related subsidiaries and associates, has come up with measures to ensure access to quality education for children in rural areas that would qualify them to pursue higher education. In also opens markets for the company’s value-added horse mackerel products and creates opportunity for entrepreneurship.