Giants join hands to help entrepreneurs

FNB Namibia and Pupkewitz Megabuild expressed satisfaction with the performance and potential of the five Windhoek-based contractors and builders who underwent an extensive Business Management for Results series for Windhoek training programme presented by SME’s Compete in Windhoek. This was said by Dixon Norval, FNB’s Head of Strategic Marketing and Communications at the handover of awards for contractors and builders recently.

Norval congratulated the contractors and builders whose status in society is transformed to become fully-fledged entrepreneurs recognized by FNB and Pupkewitz Megabuild for having successfully completed an intensive training programme.

“Entrepreneurs have a very important role to play in any society. They are servants of the various sectors of the economy. They provide service to customers, they provide service to partners such as Pupkewitz Megabuild as a supplier of building material, and they provide service to FNB Namibia for financial needs.

“Entrepreneurs are not people who look for short cuts to wealth creation, they work and earn their money in an honourable manner and wealth-creation for entrepreneurs is not an event, but a process which takes years,” FNB’s Head of Strategic Marketing and Communications advised.

Norval added that FNB as it advocates in its corporate philosophy of "How can we help you?" entered into a memorandum of understanding with Pupkewitz Megabuild to reach out to young and aspiring contractors and builders to help build their professional and personal capacities to become top builders over some time, “and FNB stands ready to take you by your hand and lead you to success,” Norval mentioned.

Sharing the same platform was the business guru, Harold Pupkewitz, Executive Chairman of the Pupkewitz Group of companies, who shared his business experiences and acumen with the up-and-coming businessmen on the important aspects of becoming successful in business. “As businessmen, you have to be honest and disciplined in all your dealings.

To succeed in business means that you have to be patient in achieving the success you set for yourself,” Pupkewitz lectured. He also advised overweight contractors and builders who received certificates to live a healthy lifestyle, “because business comes with a lot of stress and you should watch your diet.

You must eat fruit, vegetables and fish to control and balance your weight in order to allow your body to absorb and manage work-related stress easily,” the business guru advised. FNB reaffirmed its commitment to Pupkewitz Megabuild. “We will nurture the partnership that grows from strength to strength. After all, the primary purpose of the smart partnership is to benefit the end-user, the home-owner and to build a bigger pool of professional and qualified builders and contractors,” Norval stated.

The Memorandum of Understanding signed between FNB and Pupkewitz Megabuild in May this year, looks at a selection of builders, those already on the panel of FNB Home Loans and putting them through a training programme in construction and building. The second phase of the memorandum looks at extending credit facilities to these builders in the event they win tenders.

They will have the technical know-how by that time and will also have easy access to building material supplied by Pupkewitz Megabuild to carry out and complete their tenders successfully, Norval said.

The initiative by FNB and Pupkewitz Megabuild is intended to empower small entrepreneurs in the building industry with the right training, skills and assistance provided by SME’s Compete to develop and grow their careers further and also grow the Namibian economy simultaneously, Dixon Norval said.

SME’s Compete joined FNB and Pupkewitz Megabuild as a training partner for the memorandum of understanding that presented to training programme to the following contractors and builders: McLenn Tjingaete of Acemas Construction, Phillip Lethlogole of Baselebe Construction, Siegfried Hage Geingob of Etosha Building, K.U. Mungendje of Kum Builders, and Paulus H. Matsi of Vellis Property & Renovations.