The Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) has appointed Dr. Venaune Hepute to head its agricultural satellite campus, a strategic leadership transition that comes as the institution prepares to relocate the facility to the central town of Otavi.
Hepute, an academic and former regulator with more than 16 years of experience across sub-Saharan Africa’s agricultural landscape, takes the operational helm at a critical juncture. NUST is aggressively expanding its regional footprint, transitioning its agricultural arm from its current site in Rietfontein to Otavi a hub positioned to link high-potential farming regions across seven neighboring territories. In his new capacity, Hepute will oversee the capital deployment, academic programming, and infrastructure rollout for the new technology-focused hub.
“I view this appointment as a significant responsibility, but also a great opportunity,” Hepute said in an emailed statement, noting that the campus’s expansion aligns with broader national mandates to commercialize food production through technological innovation. “The goal is to advance a modern, technology-driven agricultural campus that delivers impactful research, purposeful teaching and learning, and sustainable agribusiness outcomes for Namibia and beyond.”
The leadership transition underpins Namibia’s broader structural push to bolster food security and de-risk its agrarian economy from climate shocks. Prior to rejoining NUST, where he previously served as a lecturer in soil science, Hepute held senior technical tenures at the Namibian Agronomic Board and the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry. He holds a doctorate in sustainable agriculture from the University of the Free State in South Africa.
University administrators signaled that the executive appointment will insulate operational continuity during the physical relocation, which is being handled in a phased approach. The new Otavi campus is designed to capture market share in regional tertiary education, targeting an underserved student demographic while aligning curricula directly with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and institutional agribusiness metrics.
