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The early bird catches the worm

Michelline Nawatises





The head of TransNamib, Johny Smith, a seasoned professional in the transport and logistics industry, joined the rail service company in February 2018 as chief executive officer (CEO). Smith has more than 28 years’ experience in the fields of telecommunications, road, rail and sea transportation. Before joining TransNamib, he had served as the CEO of the Walvis Bay Corridor Group (WBCG) for 11 years.

His relevant experience covers aspects of business strategy, organisational development, business development, marketing and project management and his working experience includes serving in various positions in institutions such as Namport and Telecom Namibia.

Smith’s academic qualifications include a B Comm degree, an MBA and various other management and logistics courses and conferences. He also serves as a commissioner of the National Planning Commission, vice-president of the Southern African Rail Association (SARA) and vice-chairperson of the WBCG. Previously he was the chairperson of Telecom Namibia, chairperson for the African Alliance for Corridors in Africa (ACMA) and served on the Board of Namibia Post and Telecom Holdings and the Namibia Trade Forum.

He is currently responsible for the transformation of TransNamib Holdings Limited (LTD) as per the integrated strategic business plan that was approved by the cabinet in December 2018.

Smith says being the head of TransNamib for the past two and a half years has not been an easy journey. Before coming to the company, he knew that it would require an enormous amount of dedication and hard work to turn the company around but despite all the challenges he has faced, he remained focused on the vision for TransNamib. “My only goal is to transform TransNamib and create value for Namibians and that is what I remind myself of daily,” he says.

He adds that he believes the transformation of the company can create a lot of value for the country and its people.

“TransNamib presents the opportunity to improve the conditions of railway transportation in Namibia, not only to move more freight by rail and improve road safety but also eventually provide the future option of passenger rail transportation in the country,” he says.

During the past two years that he has been at TransNamib, he has managed to improve the administration as well as a strategy that has allowed the company to increase its business operations. Some of the successes of the past two years include:

· TransNamib successfully hosted its first annual general meeting (AGM) in seven years in February last year and during the 2019/2020 financial year, TransNamib revenue increased with 4% year on year.

· As the chief executive officer of TransNamib, Smith was named Lifetime Achiever for 2019/20 at the Pan-African Awards in the sector of CEO GlobalX’s Titans: Building Nations in August 2019.

· The railway line between Aus and Lüderitz was reopened after 18 years and currently, TransNamib is moving about 15 000 tonnes of manganese per month between Ariamsvlei and Lüderitz. Through this initiative, it has appointed about 150 new staff members in southern Namibia to support this project, which has stimulated created new economic activity life in the South in general and especially in Lüderitz. The plan is to increase the volumes of freight to more than 10 000 tonnes per month in the next 24 months. This is freight which would have otherwise been moved via South Africa and therefore is creating value to the Namibian economy.

· TransNamib introduced a night train service from Tsumeb to Ondangwa and Oshikango to increase freight volumes and improve the efficiency of its rolling stock as the train service had only been operational during the day since the inception of the service in 2011.

· A new brand identity and logo for the company was launched in April 2019. This new brand promise is creating value for its shareholder, the economy and the country.

· TransNamib managed to reduce overall costs at the company by focusing on streamlining its business processes and reducing the cost of doing business.

· Internal traineeship programmes have been reinvigorated to allow the growth of building internal HR capacity at technical levels after these programmes were on hold for more than seven years.

When asked about his short-term goals for the next two years, Smith said they are busy with the implementation of their five-year integrated strategic business plan, which focuses on transforming the company into a profitable entity and creating a sustainable company in the medium to long term. The priority is to build more capacity with its rolling stock and source funding for its business plan.

Smith is most proud of the organisational culture change that they have started implementing at TransNamib.

“Employees are the heart of any operations. In our technically specialised area, employees form the foundation of our operations,” he says proudly.

Their commitment to improving internal processes and implementing communication strategies to improve internal communication has started to bear fruit. “There is new and positive energy which we hope infects the whole organisation with enthusiasm and renewed vigour to achieve our organisational goals as set out in the ISBP.”

His day starts very early. “I am up in the early hours of the morning to read and respond to my emails. My day normally consists of back-to-back meetings so the early mornings are really important for me in terms of catching up with my administration. Connecting with management, clients and other stakeholders is taking the rest of the time,” he says.

Growing up during the apartheid era, Smith saw a lot of ideals and opportunities and always challenged himself to attain those ideals, so growing up he saw himself as a businessperson.

“Of course, I don’t have my own business but what I have done with my career has always been aligned with that business aspect, in terms of trying to create value and contribute to the Namibian economy.”