YOUR BUSINESS IS OUR BUSINESS: In commendation of Dar International Trade Fair

The forty-first annual Dar International Trade Fair (41st DITF) this year that begun in the nation’s commercial capital and port city of Dar es Salaam on June 28 was officially closed on July 13, 2017.

The event was slated to wind up on July 8 – but was extended for five days, courtesy of administrative fiat by President John Pombe Joseph Magufuli.

Sworn into the Highest Office in the Land only on November 5, 2015, a clearly-confident Magufuli surmised that the Trade Fair – which caters for national, regional and international interests – should go the proverbial extra mile so as to give exhibitors, show-goers, administrators and other stakeholders that much more time to more fully pursue their interests every which way.

That’s what largely happened. According to a Principal Official of the Ministry of Industry, Trade & Investment (MITI), Professor Adolf Mkenda, no less than 405 local and foreign companies expressed intention to enter into assorted commercial agreements with each other – and with other entrpreneurs as well!

Also on record were 17,273 transactions by local and foreign commercial operators that involved outright trade – selling and buying of ‘Made-in-Tanzania’ goods and services – as well as possible investments in the country! The event attracted some 3,015 companies, out of which 515 were from 30 foreign countries.This year’s Fair saw to consumation of business deals on the ground valued as Tsh15bn, with Tsh1.95bn exchanging hands in 16 days of direct trading all round – and the creation of 11,000 temporary jobs!

[See ‘Make DITF a 16-day Event,’ Exhibitors tell TanTrade; TheCitizen: July 20, 2017; and also: ‘Kampuni 405 kuingia mikataba ya Biashara;’

MWANANCHI: July 15, 2017]. Success of this year’s DITF was summed up by the Zanzibar Minister for Industry, Commerce & Marketing, Ambassador Amina Salum-Ali, when closing the Trade Fair at the Mwalimu Nyerere ‘SabaSaba’ Grounds on July 13. The Minister showered praise on the organisers – the Tanzania Trade Development Authority (TanTrade) – and the exhibitors for demonstrating managerial astuteness and quality products...

But, all that praise notwithstanding, small-scale exhibitors who usually take advantage of the Show to sell lots of their wares – including poultry, dairy and horticultural products – expressed regret that this wasn’t the case this year! They invariably blamed budgeoning financial constraints – basically on the back of socio-economic hardships born of austerity measures by the Magufuli Regime – compounded by inordinately-high entrance fees into the Show Grounds:

Tsh3,000 per person, and Tsh10,000 car-parking fees daily! [See ‘Walia hali ngumu Saba-Saba;’ MWANANCHI: July 14, 2017].

There, indeed, were praiseworthy innovations at this year’s event – popularly known as ‘SabaSaba’ in memory of the Seventh-Day of the Seventh-Month (July) of the Year-1954 (7-7-1954) when the country’s ‘Independence’ political party TANU (Tanganyika African National Union) was formally launched. For example, ordinary Tanzanians were able to purchase products and services that aren’t always so readily accessible downtown or upcountry! These included – but weren’t limited to – paying taxes to the nation’s premier tax administrator, the Tanzania Revenue Authority (especially Buildings Tax), and obtaining identity cards from the National Identity ‘ID’ Authority (NIDA)! [See ‘Wananchi wafurika kupata huduma NIDA, TRA;’ MWANANCHI: July 14, 2017].

Such ‘innovations’ are positive moves, and must be encouraged and nurtured well into the future. After all, the Fair has for all practical purposes become an annual ‘ritual’ that showcases Tanzania’s phenomenally-endowed potential to grow in the socio-econo-geophysical development stakes!

DITF has become One Great Big showcase in the Region with phenomenal growth potential: an exchange forum for domestic products and services. Show participants – exhibitors and show-goers, including sellers, buyers and mere gawpers — frequently patronize it to tap the myriad business opportunities the Fair routinely creates... thus providing the chance for prospective investors to explore and identify investment and trading opportunities in Tanzania.

For that, Tanzanians must be eternally grateful to all those squarely behind DITF in one way or another, including the Govt., Private Sector Institutions (TPSF; CTI; TCCIA, etc) – as well as the EAC, SADC, and the country’s other development partners... Cheers!