WINDHOEK, Namibia - “I had a reflec­tion moment on how I could empower fel­low Nam­i­bi­ans who are doing the work just like me, and in some instances even more work than I could ever do as an indi­vidual. For many other reas­ons, I con­cluded that money would be the right approach,” said Deputy Minister of Information, Communication and Technology, Hon. Emma Theofelus.

Hon. Theofe­lus was speaking at a ceremony on 23 October 2022, where she awarded seven youth social enterprises - for their outstanding contributions to sexual and reproductive health matters - with her prize money from the 2022 United Nations Pop­u­la­tion Award.

The youth social enterprises were selected from among 170 applications received by the Office of the First Lady and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Namibia Country Office.

Hon Theofe­lus won the award in June this year for her work in advoc­at­ing for women’s empower­ment and adoles­cent sexual and repro­duct­ive health in Nam­i­bia.

As a deputy minister, she led the country’s public communication campaign on COVID-19 preventions in Namibia, and as a Member of Parliament, her motion enabled feminine hygiene products to be identified as a tax-free commodity.

Prior to her appointment, she served as a member of the Namibia chapter of the African Youth and Adolescents Network (AfriYAN), a network of young people championed by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).  AfriYAN aims to increase meaningful youth participation in Africa's development. While there, Hon. Theofelus advocated for adolescent and youth sexual and reproductive health. 

I decided that although very little, I know that young and bud­ding Nam­i­bian entre­pren­eurs are many a time already equipped with skills and the know-how on how to run a busi­ness or enter­prise. Thus, it only comes down to a few things, tech­nical ment­or­ship and advice and money.

“I wish to see equit­able access to sexual repro­duct­ive health rights (SRHR) ser­vices for all Nam­i­bi­ans, and a reduc­tion in teen­age preg­nan­cies and HIV infec­tions in the coun­try. I do not shy away from using my voice to raise issues I con­sider import­ant, and I try as much as pos­sible to be as pro­gress­ive as pos­sible on issues affect­ing us as Nam­i­bi­ans and young people in par­tic­u­lar,” said Theofe­lus.

“I decided that although very little, I know that young and bud­ding Nam­i­bian entre­pren­eurs are many a time already equipped with skills and the know-how on how to run a busi­ness or enter­prise. Thus, it only comes down to a few things, tech­nical ment­or­ship and advice and money,” she stated

“It is very true that almost noth­ing beats exper­i­ence in the busi­ness. Unfor­tu­nately, I do not have that prowess. Those we leave to accom­plished busi­ness gurus like our First Lady; cap­ital to start a busi­ness or an invest­ment to scale a busi­ness. I do not claim that the cash prizes we give out today will scale these young entre­pren­eurs to great great heights. But I do know that it will give them the con­fid­ence boost not to give up on being entre­pren­eurs, and for them to con­tinue with attempts of solv­ing our social chal­lenges at the same time,” she added.

Namibia’s First Lady (FLON), Madame Mon­ica Gein­gos congratulated the winners for committing to putting in the work to make a change in Namibia and pledged to match the prize money given out.

Also speaking at the event, the UN Nam­i­bia Res­id­ent Coordin­ator Sen Pang com­men­ded Hon. Theofe­lus for giv­ing back to the young people “with this not­able ini­ti­at­ive of award­ing fel­low young people who are mak­ing con­tri­bu­tions in the same space.”

“Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) is not only a cru­cial part of health­care, but they also con­tinue to be an essen­tial ele­ment for achiev­ing gender equal­ity and pro­mot­ing women’s rights,” he stated.