Fransisco Aupa Indongo (born January 15 1936), is a Namibian businessman and former politician. He owns Continental Enterprises, Indongo Toyota, Frans Indongo Gardens, Farm Gelukwater, Select Service and Gas Station, Etango Complex in Oshakati and various shares in mining and fishing companies in Namibia. He is the father-in-law of lawyer Sisa Namandje and banker Wosman Hamukonda. He is third on the list of Namibia's top ten richest people, behind the Pupkewitz and Olthaver & List families.

Business career

Indongo opened his first business, which made bricks, in the late 1950s. With the profits from that business, he bought sewing equipment for cloth making, which he sold in

Oranjemund Oranjemund (Dutch for ''"Mouth of Orange"'') is a diamond mining town in the ǁKaras Region of the extreme southwest of Namibia, on the northern bank of the Orange River mouth at the border with South Africa. It had a population of 7,736 peopl ...

. In 1961, he opened a small shop in Omusimboti, Oshana which eventually allowed him to open a chain of supermarkets across the country. Indongo owns a large number of properties across Namibia, including locations in

Swakopmund Swakopmund ("Mouth of the Swakop River, Swakop") is a city on the coast of western Namibia, west of the Namibian capital Windhoek via the B2 road (Namibia), B2 main road. It is the capital of the Erongo Region, Erongo administrative district. It ...

Tsumeb Tsumeb (; ) is a city of around 35,000 inhabitants and the largest town in the Oshikoto Region, Oshikoto region in northern Namibia. Tsumeb, since its founding in 1905, has been primarily a mining town. The town is the site of a deep mine (the ...

Walvis Bay Walvis Bay (; ; ) is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies. It is the List of cities in Namibia, second largest city in Namibia and the largest coastal city in the country. The city covers an area of of land. The bay is a ...

Otjiwarongo Otjiwarongo (Herero language, Herero for "beautiful place") is a city of 49,000 inhabitants in the Otjozondjupa Region of Namibia. It is the district capital of the Otjiwarongo Constituency, Otjiwarongo electoral constituency and also the capital ...

and

Windhoek Windhoek (; ; ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek, which ...

as well as holdings in the sugar and fishing industries.

Political career

Indongo entered politics in the 1970s as a leading member of the National Democratic Party, which became part of the

Democratic Turnhalle Alliance The Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), formerly Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA), is an amalgamation of political parties in Namibia, registered as one singular party for representation purposes. In coalition with the United Democratic Front ...

following the completion of the

Turnhalle Constitutional Conference The Turnhalle Constitutional Conference was a conference held in Windhoek Windhoek (; ; ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost e ...

in 1977. At the Turnhalle Conference, Indongo was an important member of the

Ovamboland Ovamboland, also referred to as Owamboland, was a Bantustan and later a non-geographic ethnic-based second-tier authority, the Representative Authority of the Ovambos, in South West Africa (present-day Namibia). The apartheid government stat ...

delegation. He was Minister of Economic Affairs in the Owambo legislative assembly from 1975 and from 1980 a Minister in the Owambo Second Tier Representative Authority.Frans Indongo
at the Namibia Institute for Democracy, 2007 In 1982, he was a founding member of the

Christian Democratic Action for Social Justice The Christian Democratic Action for Social Justice (CDA) was a political party in Namibia. It was founded in 1982 through a split in the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance. The party's president was Peter Kalangula, previously the president of Na ...

, led by

Peter Kalangula Peter Tanyangenge Kalangula (12 March 1926 – 20 February 2008) was a Namibian political and religious leader. Bishop Kalangula had an interesting personal history that involved both politics and church. Biography Peter Kalangula was born at Omaf ...

. He resigned from politics in the late 1980s to manage his business affairs.

Honours

In 2001, Indongo received an honorary doctorate in business administration from the

University of Namibia The University of Namibia (UNAM) is a multi-campus public research university in Namibia, and the largest university in the country. It was established by an act of Parliament on 31 August 1992. Background UNAM comprises the following fac ...

. In 2003, a street was named after him in downtown Windhoek.

References

External links

Interview with Dr. Frans Indongo by Bertil Högberg on 15 June 2005 within the project Nordic Documentation on the Liberation Struggle in Southern Africa
1936 births Living people Namibian businesspeople People from Oshana Region Popular Democratic Movement politicians Ovambo people University of Namibia alumni National Democratic Party (Namibia) politicians Christian Democratic Action for Social Justice politicians Leaders of bantustans in South West Africa 20th-century businesspeople 21st-century businesspeople 20th-century Namibian politicians {{Africa-business-bio-stub

Business career

Political career

Honours

See also

References

External links