ONGWEDIVA: The Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration is the overall winner of the Ongwediva Annual Trade Fair (OATF) 2012 that ended on Saturday.
The event judges declared that the services the Ministry’s staff rendered during the fair was friendly and delivered on time.
The Home Affairs Ministry also handled a large number of applications for birth certificates and passports at its stand during the nine-day trade fair.
Managing Director of Standard Bank Namibia, Mpumzi Pupuma presented the award to the ministry’s team of three officials, led by public relations officer Salome Kambala, during an award-giving function on Thursday evening.
Pupuma indicated that Standard Bank will continue supporting the awards’ ceremony of the OATF, and promised N.dollars 5 000 to the Home Affairs Ministry. Namibian power utility company, NamPower, was the overall winner of the OATF 2011.
The best exhibitor in the category of print and electronic media is the Namibian Sun Newspaper, which is the champion in this category for the third consecutive year.
Chairperson of the OATF preparatory committee and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the host town, Damian Egumbo, said the Namibian Sun continues to have a stall of ‘high innovations’.
Hundreds of children flocked to the stand of the Namibian Sun, where they were provided with the necessary material to demonstrate their drawing and colouring skills throughout the course of the OATF 2012.
The Social Security Commission (SSC), for the first time, sponsored the prizes for the Best Small Scale Enterprise, and Best Arts and Craft categories to the tune of N.dollars 5 000 this year.
The Tulongeni Ngaha Women Project, headed by Leena Alweendo, took a large chunk of N.dollars 3 000 of the SSC sponsorship for being declared both the Best Arts and Craft and Best OATF 2012 SME exhibitor.
The Taakambadhala Project of Elizabeth Leonard is the winner in the category of Small Scale Enterprise, and received N.dollars 2 000 of the SSC sponsorship.
Egumbo said during the awards’ ceremony that all exhibitors are winners, because they continue to make the OATF successful.
“Without exhibitors, there will be no trade fair,” Egumbo noted.
The 2013 OATF is scheduled to commence on 25 August, and interested exhibitors are requested to start booking stands.