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Dr Banda Shilimela

Dr. Banda Shilimela is a self-made Namibian billionaire, born on 07, March 1971 in Ekamba village, Oshigambo in Oshikoto region. He is born by meme Selma Nukongo Shilimela and Tate Noa Petrus Shilimela. As a child, he grew up looking after his parent’s livestock as well as doing other village chores. He enrolled kinder garden at Oshigambo in the year 1975, hence he only attended elementary school up until standard two. At the age of 10, he was associated with the People’s Liberation Army of Namibian (Plan) and helped Plan as a ‘child soldier cum messenger.’

After many encounters with the activities of Plan, he managed to access exile status to the then East Germany in 1982.

During the five-year sojourn in East Germany, Banda acquired the necessary skills and tactics to work at the front line of the Namibian freedom movement. His utmost commitment and engagement in search for freedom activities gained him trust and praise by his operational commanders. As a result, Banda earned a full time place as a sergeant in the Namibian Defense Force (NDF) at the turn of Namibia’s independence, despite his limited formal education.

Shilimela left the Namibian Defense Force and established a small security firm in Oshakati with the savings he had. He progressively transformed and expanded the security firm by covering all of Namibia and five other countries and created what is today a multi-sector business empire comprising of 14 companies. These include a fishing company with its own processing vessel, aviation with a fleet of helicopters to complement his security services in Namibia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique, a factory in China producing proprietary wireless Alarm systems, CCTV among others.

Candidate for Honorary Degree of Doctor of Business Administration (DBA - Hon. Causa)

The International University of Management (IUM) hosted a star-studded special graduation ceremony at its Dorado Park Campus in Windhoek in August 2016. The ceremony was held to hand over honorary degrees to three local entrepreneurs that have been making waves in their respective industries. The three candidates for the year 2016 were Banda Shilimela with Erastus Shikongo Shapumba, and Twapewa Kadhikwa. All three business people are said to have made great economic contributions to their various communities, with all three of them employing thousands of people among them.