Nakara

Nakara, a Namibian leather manufacturer employing 150 people, faces significant business constraints due to a lack of local technical skills and bureaucratic delays in obtaining work and export permits. The company's primary export market is South Africa, where it encounters severe cash flow issues because it must prepay VAT on behalf of medium-sized customers who cannot afford 'Deferred VAT Accounts'. Despite engaging with the Namibian Ministries of Environment and Tourism, Finance, and Trade and Industry, the company reports that no positive resolutions have been achieved to reduce these trade barriers.

• Nakara experiences a severe shortage of local technical skills and graduates from Namibian educational institutions, forcing the company to rely on foreign labor.
• Administrative delays in issuing work and export permits hinder business operations; work permits can take two months or more, and export permits from the Ministry of Environment and Tourism take five working days, contributing to a total loss of two business weeks when combined with South African import permits.
• The company's cash flow is negatively impacted by South African custom regulations requiring Nakara to prepay VAT for medium-sized customers who lack 'Deferred VAT Accounts', with the claimable funds only becoming available after approximately two months.
• Efforts to resolve these regulatory and financial barriers through Namibian government ministries have been unsuccessful, with complaints lodged five years ago regarding VAT remaining unaddressed.
• While Nakara exports to Italy and France, South Africa is its primary destination, receiving about 90% of production for furniture manufacture; expansion into other SADC markets like Zimbabwe is deemed economically unviable due to a lack of bulk buying capacity.

APA

South African Institute of International Affairs (2012). Nakara. https://saiia.org.za/saiia-toolkit/nakara-cc/

Chicago

South African Institute of International Affairs. Nakara. 2012. https://saiia.org.za/saiia-toolkit/nakara-cc/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=South African Institute of International Affairs |title=Nakara |date=24 July 2012 |url=https://saiia.org.za/saiia-toolkit/nakara-cc/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{southafricaninstituteofinternationalaffairs2012nakara, author = {{South African Institute of International Affairs}}, title = {{Nakara}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2012}, month = jul, url = {https://saiia.org.za/saiia-toolkit/nakara-cc/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }