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China-African Business Conference to boost Tanzania`s business potential
2008-04-17 10:22:16
By Lusekelo Philemon
There are lots of opportunities in the China-African Business Conference expected to kick-off in Arusha later this month, which if seriously explored, will positively change the current Tanzania`s business and investment trends. Staff Writer Lusekelo Philemon has more details…
Trade between China and Africa topped USD 50 billion in 2006, up 40 per cent the same period last year.
The China-Africa Trade map indicates that at least thirteen countries in the continent benefit from Chinese billions of dollars.
Despite the political instability, records show that Angola takes the lead in the African continent. The trade between Angola and China is about USD 11 billion; followed by South Africa with USD 9 billion other countries include Egypt, Nigeria, Sudan, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Algeria and Morocco among others. In that case, Tanzania has small portion of Chinese total trade in Africa.
The Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC), summarized report on the Chinese project registered in between 1990 and 2007, show that within that period about 174 projects were registered.
Those Chinese projects in total worth more than USD 449 million and created more than 50,000 jobs in the country.
This portion is very small in comparison with other African countries like Ethiopia whereby more than that amount were invested in only one year-2006.
This picture shows that Tanzania has not tapped the opportunities in the China-Africa trade mission, though China remains one of the top-ten countries that have heavily invested in the country.
Tanzania as a country is endowed with different natural resources that have not yet been tapped. And if heavily invested in would help the country reap a lot of money.
China is one of the countries in the world with its economy swiftly growing that some times threatens even the developed countries like USA.
The Chinese government has already shown interest to support African countries grow economically. Being the first President in the world, Chinese President Hu Jintau visited African continent seventeen times within two years.
This shows how interested China is in Africa.
To maximize its mission in Africa, the Chinese government promised to grant USD 5 billion under China-Africa Development Fund (CADF).
Already, the Chinese government had released USD 1 billion, to maximize its intention of uplifting the African countries` economies.
TIC executive director Emmanuel Ole Naiko challenges local business entrepreneurs to fully participate and explore the coming two-day China-Africa Business Conference (CABC) slated to take off
The forum is geared to widen the scope of business avenues among Tanzania`s entrepreneurs and make them establish business bridges with their counterparts from China.
Ole Naiko is urging Tanzania`s business community to utilize that opportunity by preparing good business profiles that would capture the interest of the Chinese business community to partner with them.
The meeting has been organized by the Ministry of Finance and Planning, in collaboration with TIC, the Private Sector of Tanzania and the University of Dar es Salaam.
According to Ole Naiko, the business forum is to be held on April 28 and 29, this year and would bring closer local entrepreneurs with their counterparts from China and 19 African countries.
Business representatives from Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria, Mozambique, Madagascar, DRC, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Egypt, South Africa, Togo, Namibia, Rwanda and Niger are also expected to attend the meeting.
The meeting will host a total of 290 delegates in which 134 will be the Chinese business entrepreneurs.
``This shows that the meeting will be highly competitive as every country would want to effectively use that opportunity.
That is why we`re saying there is a need for Tanzania`s business community to prepare themselves and participate in the meeting,`` Ole Naiko explains.
TIC official says CADF intends to benefit much from the Chinese companies and business community but still there are lots of chances for locals to benefit from the USD 5 billion fund.
``Tanzania`s entrepreneurs will also benefit from this fund only if they manage to convince their Chinese counterparts and agree to form business cartels with them,`` he says, adding that potential areas for investment are agriculture, industries, tourism and infrastructure such as electricity, transport, communication, water, natural resources like gas, oil and minerals.
The government in collaboration with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), TIC, and University of Dar es Salaam Entrepreneurship Centre (UDEC), registered locals who wish to attend the meeting in an effort to ensure that local entrepreneurs participate at the conference.
UDEC director and senior lecturer Dr. Donath Ulomi says his centre is currently registering Tanzanian entrepreneurs wishing to participate in the conference.
The centre registered about 200 Tanzanian entrepreneurs from all parts of the country in which 83 business plans/profiles qualified and would attend the meeting.
Dr. Ulomi says that the centre would conduct training for Tanzanian entrepreneurs on best business practices including negotiation skills with foreign investors.
The training was sponsored by UNDP in an effort to make locals explore the potentials of the meeting.
UDEC deputy director Dr. Mariam Nchimbi says that the centre was currently registering Tanzanian entrepreneurs wishing to participate in the conference.
She says entrepreneurs were supposed to prepare attractive profiles of their businesses/projects.
``The centre looked into them and where necessary we improved them,``
Nchimbi called for wider participation of local entrepreneurs in this year`s conference so as to benefit from this extremely important conference to Africa, specifically Tanzania.
Currently, the centre is running training programmes for Tanzanian entrepreneurs on negotiation skills with foreign investors.
Some of the important benefits which will be acquired by Tanzanian entrepreneurs in their participation in the conference included opportunities to establish new markets for their products in China and other participating African countries.
Tanzanian entrepreneurs would also be able to establish reliable sources of supply of raw materials from China, as well as opportunities to exchange entrepreneurial experiences with foreign investors.
Ernest Salla, Assistant Resident Representative-UNDP Tanzania says some of the benefits which will be acquired by Tanzanian entrepreneurs in their participation in the conference included opportunities to establish new markets for their products in China and other participating African countries.
He says the training was divided into three zones-Arusha, Mwanza and Dar es Salaam.
``The meeting will make local entrepreneurs able to establish reliable sources of supply of raw materials from China, as well as opportunities to exchange entrepreneurial experiences with foreign investors,`` he says.
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