Since the Covid-19 pandemic hit, remote working has become an important part of business cultures across the world, including in Africa. Namibia, with its deserts and beaches, wants to capitalize on that opportunity, and attract ‘digital nomads’ to spend needed foreign exchange in the country, using a new visa category it launched back in 2022. But, two years on, the numbers of digital nomads who’ve passed through the program remains low. So what does Namibia need to do to compete for the global remote working community that boasts a market of more than 30 million people?
Guests
*Andreas Kresnel is a leading immigration expert on southern Africa, and is the founder of IBN Immigration Solutions. Based in South Africa, Andreas has worked on immigration issues in the region for more than a decade, opening two international IBN offices in Windhoek and Kenya in that time. He is the author of 3 books, including The Corporate Immigration Guide to southern Africa. Find Andreas' quick take on the Namibia's nomad visa here
*Lazarus Amukeshe is an award-winning business and investigative journalist with The Namibian, one of the country's biggest newspapers. He has covered developments on Namibia's nomad visa scheme since its 2022 launch. Lazarus was the 2023 Editors Forum Journalist of the Year in addition to being the best Business/Finance journalist. His latest reports are here.
*Prithwiraj (Raj) Choudhury is the Lumry Family Associate Professor at the Harvard Business School where he prolifically researches the future of work, particularly the changing geography of work. Raj has also analysed the productivity of remote working and nomad visas. He is an Associate Editor at Management Science and is on Forbes' Future of Work-50 list (2023). Read Raj's take on why nomad visas can boost local economies here.
Further Readings:
Namibia’s Nomad Visa https://nipdb.com/nomadvisa/
A guide to Namibia’s digital nomad visa https://digitalnomadsinafrica.com/destinations/namibia-digital-nomad-guide/
Namibia approves first nine nomad visa applications https://www.namibian.com.na/namibia-approves-first-digital-nomads/
Namibia welcomes first digital nomads https://neweralive.na/posts/namibia-welcomes-first-digital-nomads
Digital nomad visas are on the rise in Africa https://techcentral.co.za/digital-nomad-visas-africa-south-africa/233185/
Africa Woos Tech Talent As Remote Work Visa Trend Grows Worldwide: https://weetracker.com/2023/09/26/africa-woos-tech-talent/
This spectacular African country now has a digital nomad visa https://www.timeout.com/news/this-spectacular-african-country-now-has-a-digital-nomad-visa-101922