The National Agricultural Union (NAU) held its annual Agricultural Outlook Conference on 8 and 9 October 2019 under the theme ‘Rebuilding after the drought’ in Windhoek.

According to Meatco’s Executive: Livestock Procurement, Andre Mouton, the highlight of this year’s conference was the guest speaker, Brand Pretorius, a renowned business leader and academic from South Africa, who highlighted very important elements for the success of any business and future hope, especially in the wake of the persisting drought. His focus was on how to turn companies around into profitable entities.

Pretorius shared that, as a business owner, one does not do things just to make money alone. Rather, what compelled him to work hard and get McCarthy Retail Limited out of its debts were the 5,000 employees, who were going to lose their jobs, through empathy and understanding of the business operating environment, which contributes significantly to the sustainable success of any business. Furthermore, he reiterated that "it does not mean that if a business [is] successful today, we will remain successful tomorrow”. Therefore, one should not stop working hard for sufficient results. He also shared that factors that foster the success of a better tomorrow are not necessarily those that made yesterday successful. As a result, business leaders should be able to adapt, show creativity and have moral intelligence to determine business success.

“Pretorius highlighted traits such as emotional intelligence, self-discipline and perseverance. At which he mentioned that having good ideas does not signify anything if one lacks perseverance,” says Executive: Livestock Procurement, Andre Mouton.

“With this in mind, Meatco always seeks to rebuild trust and foster adequate communication with its stakeholders while delivering and playing its role in the industry to avoid any gaps such as those that have come up at industry level of building an alternative export abattoir due to the fact that Meatco can provide markets and maximise returns for all Namibian producers remaining the number one contributor of beef exports in the country,” Mouton adds.

On his part, the newly elected NAU President, Piet Gouws, in his speech expressed appreciation for the good producer prices that Meatco has been marketing to producers throughout the country and the hard work of its management team.