The 2000 SMALL BUSINESS BASELINE SURVEY

Executive summary The aim of the Baseline Survey was to generate information on the characteristics of entrepreneurs and enterprises in the Khomas region. It is necessary to stress, that Khomas region is very different from the other regions where the survey was previously conducted since it is an urbanised region with 90% of its constituency falling within the Windhoek city boundaries. The only other main centre being that of Dordabis, which, however does not have the status of a local authority For this reason the census was conducted mainly in the capital city. Information were collected in order to: •Establish the number and types of small and micro businesses; •Illustrate the characteristics of small and micro businesses; •Develop a database for measuring the impact of the SME policy and programmes; •Compare the results in Khomas with results obtained in Erongo and Otjozondjupa and in the four northern regions. The methodology applied was based on three questionnaires: •The first was presented to the local authority town clerk, it concerned to their policies towards SMEs. •The second was the census form for all businesses in a town. •The third was the survey questionnaire used for interviewing a sample of those businesses. A stratified random sample was drawn.The Namibian Economic Policy Research Unit undertook the surveys and analysed the data. The main findings of the Baseline survey can be summarised as follows: The local authority had a list of registered businesses by type. However, data on businesses was very limited and the majority of businesses in the location area were not registered. •The local authority still did not have an annual plan for the SME sector, although several activities were planned to support SME's. •Direct outsourcing activities to local firms were minimal (refuse removal), however a tender policy in order to favor local SME was in action. •Local authorities appeared to act in an enabling way towards SME's. •Very few Chambers of Commerce members were in the SME category. In the census a total of 5 359 small and micro businesses