Tanzania Leaf Tobacco Company group legal and corporate affairs director Richard Sinamtwa presents a paper at the Tabora Investment Forum in Dar es Salaam recently. Seated right is Tabora RC Fatma Mwassa.
PHOTO | THE CITIZEN CORRESPONDENT
What you need to know:
For this forum to bear fruit we cannot entertain speculators, hence the need for due diligence.
Dar es Salaam. The government has urged Tabora regional authorities to adhere to professional practices in the manner in which they handle prospective investors.
The minister for Industry and Trade, Dr Abdallah Kigoda, made the call at the closing of Tabora Regional Investment Forum in Dar es Salaam at the weekend.
“Investors hate red tape bureaucracy and time wasting practices because to them time is money ... corruption should not be given a chance,” he stated.
He said apart from identifying potential investment areas, it was important to be serious and cut the cost of doing business in the region.
“For this forum to bear fruit we cannot entertain speculators, hence the need for due diligence,” he said.
Tanzania Leaf Tobacco Company group director of legal and corporate affairs Richard Sinamtwa, Tanzania Private Sector Foundation executive director Godfrey Simbeye and Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange chief executive officer Moremi Marwa presented papers.
Mr Sinamtwa said the region produces over 60 million kilos of tobacco, which is processed in Tanzania for value addition before being exported.
Farmers in the region of about 2.5 million people also produce large quantities of beans and peas, maize, cassava, potatoes, groundnuts, sesame seeds, sunflower, rice, mangoes and honey, thus providing investment opportunities in the agro-processing industries.
TPSF boss Godfrey Simbeye said: “We appreciate the recent changes that have seen us meeting and exchanging our challenges with the government.”
He commended the ‘Big Results Now’ initiative, saying it was the right decision for changing the culture of doing things.
Mr Marwa advised business enterprises including small, medium sized and corporate to use the Stock Exchange for raising capital.
“Even municipalities can make use of the DSE for raising funds to finance their social and economic development projects like building roads, schools, hospitals and bridges” he said.
The forum was opened by Vice President, Dr Mohamed Gharib Bilal.
