Increasing numbers of entrepreneurs have emerged in rural agrarian societies of Namibia. These
entrepreneurs have introduced new approaches to maintaining livelihoods, and these new approaches may have
changed the social connections among households that had been based on the previously rural economy of Africa.
This paper examines recent changes in the social connections and relationships between rural entrepreneurs and
other farmers in a specific local society in post-apartheid Namibia. Some farmers in the Owambo agro-pastoral
society have changed their approach to livestock farming by establishing an annual cattle post. This approach to
farm management differs from local methods, which have used a seasonal cattle post, and resembles those used
in commercial farms. However, farmers involved in annual cattle posts tend to use their salaries from jobs in the
subsistence economy, which is strongly supported by social relationships, to invest in the new enterprises. Although
these individuals have entrepreneurial skills and have actively introduced new methods of livestock farming, they
have not totally shifted to the market economy. Indeed, despite major economic disparities, the characteristics of rural
economies, especially the value placed on coexistence, may lead to greater upward economic mobility among rural
households.