A small nation’s surprising solution to unemployment | James Mnyupe

Summary

Podcast Summary: "A Small Nation’s Surprising Solution to Unemployment | James Mnyupe"

Podcast Information:

• Title: TED Talks Daily
• Host/Author: TED
• Episode: A Small Nation’s Surprising Solution to Unemployment | James Mnyupe
• Release Date: July 28, 2025

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Introduction

In this compelling episode of TED Talks Daily, James Mnyupe, a visionary clean economy builder from Namibia, shares his nation's innovative approach to tackling severe unemployment and environmental challenges. Presented at the TED Countdown Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, Mnyupe outlines how Namibia is transforming its socio-economic landscape through renewable energy and green industrialization.

Namibia's Socio-Economic Challenges

Mnyupe begins by painting a stark picture of Namibia's current predicament:

• Income Inequality: Namibia ranks as the second most unequal society globally, with a Gini coefficient of 0.59.
• High Unemployment: The nation grapples with an unemployment rate of 37%.
• Energy Dependence and Droughts: Namibia imports 40-60% of its energy needs, primarily relying on hydroelectric power. Frequent and worsening droughts exacerbate energy insecurity, forcing the country to purchase expensive electricity and support a struggling agricultural sector.

"According to the Gini Coefficient, which measures income inequality, Namibia is the second most unequal society in the world." (00:07)

Renewable Energy Wealth

Despite these challenges, Namibia boasts abundant renewable energy resources:

• Solar Energy: The country receives approximately 2200 kilowatt-hours per square meter of solar irradiance.
• Wind Energy: Southwestern Namibia experiences wind speeds exceeding 11 meters per second, offering capacity factors of over 50% for most turbines.

Mnyupe emphasizes that Namibia's low carbon footprint—emitting only 0.01% of global CO₂—positions it uniquely to harness these renewable resources without being a significant contributor to climate change.

"Namibia is actually quite a wealthy nation from a renewable energy perspective." (04:15)

Green Industrialization Blueprint

To address unemployment and leverage renewable energy, Namibia developed a comprehensive strategy known as the Green Industrialization Blueprint. Key components include:

• Economic Diplomacy: Targeted missions secured over €80 million in grant funding between 2021 and 2024.
• Infrastructure Development: Investments were made in state-of-the-art facilities, including:
  • The first direct reduced ion facility globally.
  • A 25 MW solar array and a 13.5 MW battery storage system.
  • A 12 MW electrolyzer array, the largest in Southern Africa, capable of splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen.

"We decided to come up with a blueprint that would help us manifest the socioeconomic outcomes we wanted, create new jobs, attract foreign direct investment, and build new infrastructure." (04:45)

Innovative Projects and Achievements

Mnyupe highlights several groundbreaking projects resulting from the blueprint:

• Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) Facility: Utilizing green hydrogen produced from renewable energy to reduce iron ore. This process emits significantly less CO₂ compared to traditional methods, contributing to the production of green steel—a material responsible for 7-9% of global emissions.

  "This is Namibia's first green industrial product since independence." (07:30)

• Green Hydrogen Service Station: Africa's first facility dedicated to producing hydrogen for decarbonizing long-haul trucking and trains. The station also facilitates the creation of green ammonia, a potential clean shipping fuel.

  "At that service station, we want to start producing hydrogen, which will be used to decarbonize long haul trucking." (10:15)

• International Collaboration: Namibia's projects have attracted global partners, including Toyota Chudo from Japan, which is interested in purchasing green steel for its eco-conscious manufacturing processes.

Future Aspirations and Global Impact

Looking ahead, Namibia aims to expand its green initiatives:

• Climate Investment Funds: In January 2025, Namibia's application ranked third globally, securing an opportunity to access up to US$250 million of super-concessional capital. This funding is set to further scale up industrial clusters and renewable projects.

  "With that, we have now been given an opportunity to apply for up to US$250 million of super concessional capital." (12:30)

• African Sustainable Industrialization Institute: Mnyupe envisions a continental center of excellence to replicate Namibia's success across Africa, promoting sustainable industrial clusters and fostering economic emancipation.

  "We would want to call it the African Sustainable Industrialization Institute." (14:10)

• Socioeconomic Emancipation: Beyond economic metrics, the initiative seeks to inspire African youth and cultivate a sense of pride, driving long-term social and economic benefits across the continent.

  "What we're really trying to engender is inspiration for our young people and socioeconomic emancipation for all of us on the continent." (14:50)

Conclusion

James Mnyupe's talk underscores the transformative power of renewable energy and strategic planning in addressing deep-seated socio-economic issues. Namibia's proactive approach serves as a beacon for other nations facing similar challenges, demonstrating that with innovation and international collaboration, significant positive change is attainable.

"This is what happens when humanity comes together for a common cause." (08:00)

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Key Takeaways:

• Innovative Solutions: Leveraging renewable energy to create sustainable industries can address unemployment and economic inequality.
• International Collaboration: Securing global partnerships and funding is crucial for scaling impactful projects.
• Long-Term Vision: Building institutions like the African Sustainable Industrialization Institute ensures the replication of successful models across regions.
• Inspiration and Empowerment: Beyond economic benefits, fostering national pride and inspiring youth are essential for enduring socioeconomic progress.

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For those intrigued by Namibia's journey towards green industrialization and its broader implications for global sustainability, James Mnyupe's insightful presentation offers a roadmap worth following.

Transcript

[Elise Hu]

You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hu. According to the Gini Coefficient, which is a statistical measure of income or wealth inequality within a population, Namibia is the second most unequal society in the world. It has a high unemployment rate and like most nations in the world, suffers from increasing crippling droughts. As clean economy builder James Mnupe asks, how do we make lemonade out of all of these lemons? In this talk, James shares how Namibia looked at these massive problems and in just a few years came up with actionable, innovative solutions that are bringing the country to the forefront of green industry, creating new opportunities, jobs and technologies not just for the population of Namibia, but for countries and everywhere. This episode is sponsored by McDonald's. Okay, confession time. I love a good comeback story, especially when it's delicious and totally unexpected. Back in 2006, McDonald's released the snack Wrap and it quickly became the Go to Bite portable crunchy chicken juicy perfection. Then it vanished. Gone. Poof. But the fans like me. Oh, they never gave up. I'm talking nine years of petitions, Facebook groups, memes, international snack wrap, scouting missions. People built entire identities around this thing. It was intense in the best way. And now it's back. Yes, really. Thanks to relentless sauce loving dedication, McDonald's brought back the Snack wrap. The think crispy, juicy white meat, shredded lettuce, melty cheese, all hugged in a soft tortilla and drizzled with ranch or your pick of sauces. It was never supposed to return, but the fans made it happen. Because sometimes passion wins and sometimes it tastes like a snack wrap. Try the Snack wrap that broke the Internet at a McDonald's near you. This message is brought to you by Apple Card. Each Apple product, like the iPhone 16, is thoughtfully designed by skilled designers. The titanium Apple Card is no different. It's laser etched, has no numbers, and it earns you daily cash on everything you buy, including 3% back on everything at Apple. Apply for Apple Card on your iPhone in minutes. Subject to credit approval. Apple Card is issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Branch terms and [e-mail] this episode is sponsored by Dell introducing the new Dell AI PC. Powered by the Intel Core Ultra processor. It's not just an AI computer, it's a computer built for AI. That means it's built to help do your busy work for so you can fast forward through editing images, designing presentations, generating code, debugging code, running lots of apps without lag creating live translations and captions summarizing meeting notes, Extending battery life, enhancing security finding that file you are looking for, managing your schedule, meeting your deadlines, responding to Jim's long emails, leaving all the time in the world for more you time and for the things you actually want to do. No offense, Jim. Get A new Dell AI PC starting at [e-mail] AI PC how those ahead Stay ahead.

[James Mnupe]

Today I'm going to talk to you about a curious tale from southern Africa about how a small, vulnerable nation decided to build a green industrialization hub of note Making lemonade from lemons. So I hail from a small nation with a population of about 3 million people. For our troubles, we consume about 4 and a half terawatt hours of electricity, and in the process we emit about 0.01% of the global carbon dioxide emissions. So from a climate change perspective, we are not the problem child. But if we're going to make some lemonades, we're probably going to need some lemons. So let's talk about those. Today, Namibia is the second most unequal society in the world. As measured by a Gini coefficient. We have 0.59 as a score. We have a stubbornly high unemployment rate of 37%, and we import 40 to 60% of our energy needs from our neighbors, who themselves are energy insecure. Our largest electricity generator is a hydroelectric power station. And as you can imagine, when we suffer from debilitating droughts, which, as you know, are getting worse and worse, we find ourselves in a very sticky situation, having to buy electricity from the southern African power pool at high prices and at the same time trying to subsidize and assist our farmers whose livestocks are dying and of course their plants are withering. Ok, enough of the lemons. We also need some sugar. So Namibia is actually quite a wealthy nation from a renewable energy perspective. Vast tracts of our nation are glorified and covered in solar irradiance of 2200 kilowatt hours per square meter. At the same time, we have one of the best wind resources on the planet. And in the southwestern part of our country, we enjoy wind speeds in excess of 11 meters per second that generate capacity factors of more than 50% for most turbines. Now, not all of us in the room are energy nerds. So to illustrate the point, a gentleman called Antoine Albert set the windsurfing record for speed over 500 meters, clocking 99 kilometers an hour just on a board with a sail. We didn't give him a speeding Ticket. So with all these ingredients of amazing renewable energy, 1,000 kilometers of coastline, we decided to come up with a blueprint that would help us manifest the socioeconomic outcomes we wanted, create new jobs, attract fdi, and build new infrastructure. We realized that our neighbors around us, there's 172 million of them, could actually really use this clean energy. A lot of them have mineral endowments such as cobalt, platinum, iron ore, and manganese. And of course, we could use our transport networks in our country to transport these minerals to clients around the world in Japan, Europe, and beyond. Now these clients are becoming more and more carbon conscious, thanks to a lot of good TED talks. And they're saying they would like their goods to have lower carbon content. So the renewable energy will help. But what if we could also decarbonize the transport routes? And so, between the President and myself, we crafted what we call the Green Industrialization blueprint. Armed with this particular blueprint, we embarked on a very targeted economic diplomatic mission. Because for every glass of lemonade you make, you'd need a decent spoon to stir all these ingredients. So what were we able to do between 2021 and 2024? We came back with more than 80 million euros in grant funding. And what did we do with this grant funding? We built stuff like the first direct reduced ion facility of its kind in the world. There's about 25 megawatt solar array, 13.5 megawatts of battery. There's 12 megawatts of electrolyzers, which, of course, is the largest electrolyzer array in Southern Africa today. Now, Those electrolyzers, they're two stacks of six megawatts each, and they weigh 46.6tons apiece. Electrolyzers can take water and split it into its constituent molecules of oxygen and hydrogen. The oxygen you can vent doesn't harm the environment, and the hydrogen can be used as a reducing agent for iron ore, which has iron and oxygen. So what you do is you take the hydrogen that you've now been powering with your renewable electricity, and you put it into the machine, which is a horizontal gas tight kiln. Now, under high temperatures, the hydrogen goes and reacts with the oxygen in the iron ore because it's recently been separated from the oxygen from the water, and so it reacts with that oxygen from the iron ore. And on the other side, you get Namibia's first green industrial product since independence. This is an extremely valuable commodity for us in so many different ways. A nugget of direct reduced iron ore. It has more than 90% iron content, and it is A fantastic ingredient for making green steel. By the way, steel contributes about 7 to 9% of global emissions. So this is quite an interesting contribution to humanity from our side. Now, I did try to bring a nugget for all of you to see and touch, but customs said it was too valuable and I didn't have a tax invoice. So for now, come to Namibia and we'll show you the real thing. As much as we're proud of that lovely nugget, we're even more proud of all the people who work at High Iron. This is what 400 jobs during construction looks like. And this is, this is what empowerment of the people of not just Namibia, but indeed the world looks like. This was a real United nations effort, right? The solar panels, batteries and electrolyzers came from China. The kiln came from Germany. The capital came from Europe. The offtake is coming from Japan. So Toyota Chudo is actually looking at buying this particular facility and the iron ore to make green steel. And then of course, the labor and the sun came from our beloved Namibia. And to me, this is what happens when humanity comes together for a common cause. Now we have more than one flavor of lemonade. That was a lime flavor. This, this is a strawberry flavor. Africa's first green hydrogen service station. If you want to attack scope two and Scope three emissions, you have to start decarbonizing how you transport these new products as well. And so at that service station, we want to start producing hydrogen, which will be used to decarbonize long haul trucking. We've already started making dual fuel trucks there. We're developing a dual fuel train as we speak that will use hydrogen and diesel. And then of course, la piss de la resistance. We're going to take that hydrogen and combine it with nitrogen to make ammonia green. Ammonia is a possible shipping fuel. And Belgium's largest shipping company has decided to choose Namibia as its headquarters to develop a clean shipping fleet that will run on green ammonia, having developed this particular engine in Switzerland. Now, if the 80 million euros in grant funding was a spoon, our ambition is to take over the whole neighborhood and sell a lot more lemonade. So we'd probably need the blender. So in 2024, actually in October, the Climate Investment funds introduced a new program called the Industry Decarbonization Program. And they invited nations from around the world to apply for an opportunity to get their share of a billion US dollars of extremely concessional money that you could use to build and scale up some of the industrial clusters that I was showing you. We took Our chances put together a portfolio. And on January 17th of 2025, we applied. And just last week, Friday, as I was boarding my plane to come and talk to you, we got told that Namibia's application ranked third in the whole world. With that, we have now been given an opportunity to apply for up to US$250 million of super concessional capital. To give you an idea, 30 year tenor, 80 year grace period and a cost of 1.1%. In terms of the cost of capital, typically we borrow at about 6,7% for our Eurobond for half the tenor. So it's transformative. Now the idea is to take this capital, blend it with financing from multilateral development banks, and if possible, build a billion dollar fund that will help us blend a lot more lemonade for Namibia. Now, of course, I couldn't have done all of this on my own. This is the Namibian Green Hydrogen program. My teammates. It has a collection of engineers, lawyers, financiers, and we have worked extremely collaboratively with our government to create what you can see is becoming a revolutionary way of building new economic systems. But there is more. We don't want to stop here. What we want to do is to build a continental center of excellence that will codify how to build new sustainable industrial clusters and will systematically and programmatically deploy financing for countries around the continent to do exactly what we've done in Namibia. I haven't registered the trademark yet, but we would want to call it the African Sustainable Industrialization Institute. And of course, while we want to be merchants of clean new goods, of clean new industries, what we're really selling is African pride. And what we're really trying to engender is inspiration for our young people. And most importantly, we want to see socioeconomic emancipation for all of us on the continent. My name is James Mnupe. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to me.

[Elise Hu]

That was James Mnupe at TED Countdown Summit Nairobi in Kenya in 2025. If you're curious about Ted's curation, find out [e-mail] curationguidelines and that's it for today's show. TED Talks Daily is part of the TED Audio Collective. This episode was produced and edited by our team, Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Brian Greene, Lucy Little, Alejandra Salazar and Tonsika Sarmarnivon. It was mixed by Christopher Faizy Bogan. Additional support from Emma Tobner and Daniela Ballarezzo. I'm Elise Hu. I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feed. Thanks for listening.

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