With a young and growing population, Tanzania’s new business blueprint is in line with the country’s efforts to market itself as an investment hub in the busiest investment region within the African continent.
With Vision 2025 as the guiding light, the current administration of President Magufuli has determined to curb corruption and work diligently towards improving the livelihood of Tanzanians. “Combating corruption and greater fiscal discipline, we believe will pave the way for sustainable future growth,” states Kenrick Cockerill, Managing Director, Stanbic Bank Tanzania. “We have a young and vibrant population that will be the growth engine for the future.”
Thanks to the invaluable contribution of taxpayers money, the major strategic initiatives to improve infrastructures, facilitate transportation and improve the public service system have generated a new trend and provided strong impetus to the socio-economic development of Tanzania.
Among these initiatives is shifting the capital to Dodoma, the long-cherished wish proposed by the first President of Tanzania, Julius Nyerere, in 1973. This long-standing move is significant for the central government to maintain closer ties with regions and promote common development.
Over the past year, Tanzania has introduced a blueprint for pro-business regulatory reform which raises hope that the investment climate will be improved further to meet the requirements of the country’s industrialisation requirements.
The blueprint will see to the government initiating amendments to various laws, including legislations on value-added tax (VAT), immigration, labour, social security and environmental managements, as well as indicative prices for imports. “We are welcoming investors to come in and build investments. This is a key for the long-term and allow us comply with the 2025 Vision in collaboration with other companies,” states Engr. Kapuulya Musomba, of Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC). In this, Tanzania seeks to market itself as an investment destination of first choice where the ease of doing business will effective and efficient.
For both local and foreign operators within the country, now is better than ever to work and invest within the nation. “Basically, as a person who has been doing business here in this country, there have been a lot of small changes and that has resulted in doing business in an easier way,” states Sanjay Advani, Managing Director, Shelys Pharmaceuticals.
The revitalisation of Air Tanzania has resulted in increased traffic from tourists and investors as well as expansion of routes connecting Tanzania to the world. “Moreover, we need more airlines here to have more competition which will make the service viable, reliable and affordable,” states Hamza Johari, Director General, Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA).
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), East Africa is the region of the continent with the highest forecasted GDP growth for the period 2018-2023, with an average of more than 6%, and Tanzania as the second largest economy. “We are all seeing this huge improvement,” states Theobald Sabi, Managing Director, NBC. “Considering the geopolitical position of Tanzania, you will have access to the SADC region and to the East African region. On the basis of that, we think this is really the time to come and invest in Tanzania.”
