Growing up, Fransisco Aupa Indongo, popularly called Frans Indongo, engaged in several ventures to make money. He saw prospects in anything he engaged in. He went hunting, sold food, made clothes, and did meat preservation and logging.
He also did bricklaying in the 1950s and later launched his own mud bricks shop in 1964. He then used his profit from the shop to open a chain of supermarkets across Namibia, in addition to other businesses under the umbrella of Frans Indongo Group.
Frans Indongo Group is now one of the largest conglomerates in Namibia. It owns the landmark Frans Indongo Gardens building in Windhoek’s central business district as well as one of the biggest Toyota dealerships in Namibia, Forbes reported.
According to the group’s website, “Indongo Toyota has not only become the Toyota market leader in Namibia, but also a Toyota dealership grouping that is recognised for performing on par with the very best Toyota dealerships in Southern Africa.”
What is more, Indongo’s company has an interest in food manufacturer Bokomo Foods Namibia, sugar producer Tongaat Hulett Namibia and hotels Frans Indongo Lodge and Protea Hotel Walvis Bay among other interests, Forbes added.
Indongo stopped at nothing to make money through legitimate means despite facing a lot of difficulties as a young Black man. This resilience would pave the way for the establishment of one of Namibia’s flourishing business empires.
In 2017, Indongo was featured in Forbes magazine as one of the richest Namibian entrepreneurs. His net worth is said to be in the millions of dollars and he is described by Namibian media as the richest Black person in the country.
In the 1970s, he became a prominent political figure in Namibia, after becoming a member of the National Democratic Party, according to Nalebrity. He also served as a cabinet minister in 1975 and 1982. He first served as a Minister for Economic Affairs in the Owambo legislative assembly then later in the Owambo Second Tier Representative Authority. He quit politics in the 1980s to focus on his business.
