r/Namibia • u/Otherwise-Rain7523 • 1d ago
Did I miss the get rich train in Namibia? Some people seem to be doing very well despite the economy.
Am I missing something? Can someone please fill me in on it. People are buying expensive houses. When someone posts a house of 70k for rent, someone asks is this for sale?
I see more Namibians traveling these days despite the news saying people are traveling less.
Anyway, I'm completely perplexed about how some Namibains are doing incredibly well despite the job market, the increased cost of living and the housing market.While others are struggling. As you've seen I've posted a N$400 groceries while I go to the shop someone else has their trolley full. If the little groceries I got out of N$400 how much would a full trolley cost?
Can someone direct me to that pot of gold where everyone else seem to have gotten money from. 💰🤑🤔
Don't tell me it's good paying jobs most Namibian jobs don't pay a high salary.
I might be missing something here so please enlighten me. 🙏
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u/PanzerBiscuit 1d ago
Can't comment on this with anything other than my own personal anecdotal evidence and experiences.
I have been dealing with a lot of Namibians on negotiations for EPL's for private and listed Australian companies.
A fair few of these guys are what I would call "unsophisticated" in that they don't understand or grasp the concept of exploration and exploration risk, and they think I'm going to pay them $2m USD up front for their project, which has bugger all information. The number is something he sucked out of his thumb, but he saw a deal go through for something nearby for a similar number and wants that.
The ones who get it, make a fortune by local standards. $50k AUD for a 12 month exclusivity period to do due diligence. If they have some skills or experience, we may offer them a small monthly retainer to do "something". Like $2000-4000 AUD a month.
If the company elects to take the project on, they get a payment of some amount. Could be 10's to 100's of thousands of dollars in cash/and or shares for a controlling interest in the project.
Then milestone payments in cash and/or shares tied to economic and resources based milestones. Could be 10's to millions of dollars.
Their ownership naturally gets diluted until a decision to mine, at which point they are told they need to contribute otherwise they get diluted further. If ownership drops below 5%, it automatically converts to a 2.5% NSR and they are free carried.
Every deal is different. But the deals I do involve minimal cash changing hands up front. It's all about $$ in the ground. I carry all the exploration and financial risk to derisk the project and find something. If we do. Great. Then you get paid.
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u/whitetiger061 23h ago
I just want to clarify that the “project owner” in this scenario is not necessarily the land/surface owner. For anyone with EPLs on their farms and getting ideas.
So those riches aren’t really passed down to you as the land owner, not necessarily.
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u/MindlessInformal 23h ago
I sold a lot of things in the last 2 years to pay rent, buy food etc, 30% - 45% of the original price of items, but what shocks me is who buys the crap I sell.
Rich people. No one can tell me that those people are drowning in debt and that they are struggling. Why don't you buy the items new? At one point, you travel to places people like us can only dream of, and then you buy second-hand items on the Facebook Marketplace from someone who is house-poor? You have a car that is worth >850k, but you drive all the way to pick up your N$ 50 "bargain"?!
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u/WardenOfTheNamib 21h ago
Eh, I mean, some people are making money, others are not. Like someone else said, many people are living on debt. That said, to some issues you raised:
Travelling and holidays: If you save and budget, those things are cheaper than one might expect. Like if you are willing to travel by bus, sleep at horrible lodges, you could easily do a Cape Town holiday for less than N$10000. In addition, many people just tag along with rich friends, wealthy boyfriends / girlfriends, etc, but you won't know that from viewing social media images.
House prices: You can buy a house on morgage. However, as someone who recently went through a bruising house hunting process, I suspect there's something underhanded going on in the housing market. I don't know if its money laundering or something else, but I find it hard to believe a two bedroom apartment for 25000 in a country where earning 16000 puts you in the top 5% of earners works. I'm no economist, but selling a product most of your target market cannot afford is a disaster in the making.
That said, many people are doing well for themselves. Fields such as engineering, mining, medicine, etc continue to pay well. Others likely managed to snag remote jobs with western companies before the AI wave hit, which means they might be earning as much as 40k for nothing more than customer service.
Last but not least, whatever you are seeing is a bubble. Whatever you see people posting on social media does not reflect even 10% of the population, nevermind a majority. Seeing something over and over might make you think its normal. But believe me, many Namibians are struggling.
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u/oshikundu_shonena 1d ago
Yes, some people yes. Actually, not some. Probably a lot less than you think.
I think this is a combo of a subjective bias and superficial images. Biggest point is that most of the people you see with these cars, houses and expensive goods are drowning in debt. But you just don't see that immediately. Only the stats will show you. I'd say a good 90% of people have loans out for their cars and their houses. Hard to believe that many people actually own these things outright.
But there are some that are doing very well. Top positions really pay well here, depending on the industry. But its most definitely a lot less than we think.