It is seven o'clock at dusk and here sits the most revered Namibian entrepreneur, clad in camouflaged farm clothes (no name brands), torn pull-over, very sweaty and, besides his best efforts to hide it, bushed. The joy of farming? “Business is not always full of joy. It is something different with ups and downs. Not always are you happy,” volunteers Dr Frans Indongo as the sun sets behind the Omatako Mountains.

Frans Indongo says he will now concentrate on farming, which is his passion.

Most influential people, be they politicians, multimillionaires or successful entrepreneurs, tend to be grandeur, with a larger than life kind of imposing presence that could be felt miles away.
Not with Indongo. When he speaks of manufacturing - his hand-picked board is under instruction to steer the business focus on value addition and manufacturing - he actually means it. He relates his first factory job in 1958, during the contract labour system, in Walvis Bay where they process tinned fish. All the stock was shipped and stored in Cape Town.
“Namibians businesspeople who wanted to stock tinned fish had to buy it from Cape Town at a price that reflected the transport costs,” he says.
Neither is Indongo under any illusions about black economic empowerment. Despite his success, Indongo is one businessman who has never ever mentioned the word BEE in any of his transactions. Not that he is into announcing new business ventures.
“BEE is not really working as in South Africa. Our people lack understanding and information,” he says. And it is not about access to money either, he is quick to add. “What we need is knowledge not money. We have seen how those who got a lot of money fail in business. It is about knowledge, not money. People think access to a bucket load of money can turn them into business people. No. A business starts with a viable idea. Money is secondary,” he says.
The interview was initially scheduled for Monday five o'clock at his farm in Otjiwarongo, 42 km north-east of the town. But upon arrival, we were to be informed that 'tshokulu' (your old man) Indongo left the house for one of the farm camps where, together with workers, he is herding the cattle back in the camp from which they have broken through.
“He will be done by 19h30 or 20h00. He said to wait if you can or reschedule for another appointment,” madam Indongo conveyed the message. So waiting it was decided, having driven almost 300 km to meet the man who was recently said to have retired from active business.
It turns out the word retirement in the invitation to the re-branding announcement of Frans Indongo Group two weeks ago, crept in by mistake on the part of the translators. “How can one retire from one's own work? People work as long as they are alive,” says Indongo who had just arrived with a warthog carcass on the back of his bakkie.
What he did, with the business and not to the warthog, was to simply re-organise the business structure and to constitute a management body.
Indongo has 60 business entities spanning from aviation, properties, fishing to retailing and manufacturing. For over 40 years Indongo has been managing each business interests as a single entity.