Pitch agribusiness to the world, Tanzanians urged

What you need to know:

The deputy permanent secretary in the ministry of Agriculture, Prof Siza Tumbo, challenges Tanzanians to fully prepare to pitch their agribusinesses from a new platform

Dar es Salaam. Tanzanians should adequately prepare to pitch their agribusinesses from a new platform that connects investment-ready agricultural firms and projects to financiers, business services, and an ecosystem of partners from around the world.

 

The remarks were made by the deputy permanent secretary in the ministry of Agriculture, Prof Siza Tumbo, in Dar es Salaam earlier this week during a preparatory meeting for the world’s premier forum for African agriculture the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF).

 

Tanzania’s public and private sector players met to prepare for “agribusiness deal room” a landmark side event for matchmaking and will facilitate partnerships and investments in African agriculture, during the upcoming 10th AGRF Summit.

 

Rwandan President Paul Kagame will chair the virtual meeting to be held from September 8 to 11 this year.

The ‘deal room’ links up private companies with over 50 public and private investors from around the world to explore a wide range of investment opportunities.

 

Prof Tumbo noted that the deal room is vital for Tanzanians in agribusiness, from which they can pitch to investors and attract funding/ partnerships.

 

Agra Country manager for Tanzania Vianey Rweyendela told the meeting that the 10th AGRF Summit will bring together over two thousand delegates from governments, the civil society, the private sector, research community, and development partners from around the world and will be cohosted by the government of Rwanda and the AGRF Partners Group.

 

Mr Rweyendela said he was optimistic Tanzania public and private sector would participate in the summit including the deal room.

 

“The response to the preparatory meeting is a good indicator as it has brought together government officials, policymakers and private sec-tor,” he said.

 

He appreciated the participation of the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) in the deal room.

 

For his part, Mr Nicomed Bohay, the managing director of the Private Agriculture Sector Support (Pass), said lack of the ability by any business to pitch for funding was a recipe for failure.

 

He noted that Pass, which works closely with the Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) and Tanzania Livestock Research Institute (Taliri) will participate at AGRF Summit deal room.

 

“We’ve a great capacity to support private sector investments in agriculture directly or indirectly but most of the requests reaching us are poorly prepared, leading to failure to get funding,” he noted.