Mangachi: Tanzanian investor bringing Swiss excellence to Tanzania tourism

Raised and educated in Switzerland, Jafari Mangachi grew up in a country renowned for its high standard of quality, precision, and craftsmanship, the Swiss’s attention to detail has been acknowledged across the world. Jafari relocated to Switzerland as a toddler and with that foundation growing up and his education in the hospitality industry, he brings a unique perspective to the tourism industry he has invested in Tanzania.

His company ‘The Kilavo Experience’ offers eco-friendly tourism with the Swiss level of standard for their clientele. The new addition to the tourism industry that is still developing. The tourism sector has a lot of potential for growth with 3.5 billion dollars in 2024, when measured against another African nation like Egypt, which earned a record of 14.1 billion dollars.

Growing up as a young Tanzanian in French-speaking Switzerland

Jafari had to grow up fighting the stereotype about Africa, boldly identifying himself as a Tanzanian in a time when no one around him even knew where Tanzania was, “I had to tell them where Tanzania is, all the people around me knew was Nigeria or west Africa, they also knew Kenya” he said. That early experience with peers in school and his neighbourhood, made him more motivated to tell people more about Tanzania, the fact that most people thought that Mountain Kilimanjaro was not even in Tanzania, drove him to correct that narrative, he had to constantly tell them that the highest mountain in Africa is indeed in Tanzania and not otherwise. In his bid to market Tanzania, he was fortunate enough to take part in a funfair known as ‘’Le ZUTU land” a major event in the city of Geneva, a family-friendly event frequented by locals and tourists.

When the organizers wanted to create an ‘African corner’ at the festival, they had to search for an authentic East African to have a booth and show the world what East Africa has to offer. That’s when searching through the internet they found his page ‘Kilavo experience’ on Instagram talking about the Serengeti and they contacted him. Setting up his stand at the event was not easy, he had to call the Tanzanian Embassy numerous times to get their assistance, he needed the Tanzanian flag so that visitors would know which country he was representing.

The flag came in handy a lot of Tanzanians in Geneva flocked to his booth when they saw the flag, they were excited to finally see their country represented. The feeling of being acknowledged by his countrymen made the tedious work of preparing for the event worthwhile. His initiative to showcase Tanzania to the Swiss people was boosted when Ambassador Hoyce Temu, the Deputy Permanent Representative for Tanzania to the UN Office in Geneva went to show him support for his effort.

At the event it dawned on him the amount of work he had to do to explain to people about Tanzania, their knowledge was very limited if not non-existent, to some it was like their first time hearing about Tanzania. He took a lot of time educating people about the country starting with the geographical location and the tourism attractions. “That’s the reality that I went through, telling them about Zanzibar, Kilimanjaro, and what Tanzania has to offer,” he explained. Mangachi came up with an ingenious plan to attract people to his booth, he had a picture of a Maasai holding Swiss chocolate, their popular brand of chocolate while having a Swiss knife, it arose the curiosity of the fairgoers, who got closer and asked him about the Maasai, most thinking the Maasai are only found in Kenya, he seized that chance to explain to them about Maasai residing in Zanzibar and Tanzania northern circuit, and invited them to visit the country. “I challenged their view, going against the grain,” he added.

Though much effort has been put into marketing Tanzania in the United States, and recently in China and South Korea, Mangachi feels it would be advantageous to reach out to the Swiss, and he is well poised to attract them, “Swiss are very seclusive, expats living in Switzerland will tell you that, but I have had the luxury of growing up with them and have my network of friends I grew with” he mentioned.

Switzerland spends large sums of money when they are out of the country, compared to other Europeans, on top of that, they are among the best-paid Europeans with the highest minimum wage. They can put enough money on the side for travel,” he said. The Swiss have a mandatory five week paid vacation annually, and are urged to take them every year. So for then, the concept of travel is engrained in them.

Those are grounds for marketing Tanzania tourist attractions to them and truly investing in expanding the number of Swiss tourists coming to Tanzania. His company Kilavo Experience which he founded in 2024, is in a position to penetrate that market, the Swiss are known for having numerous fairs and that is an avenue that is excellent for advertising Tanzania tourism.

He went to the Lugano fair in Southern Switzerland, a popular hospitality exhibition that attracts international audiences and participants, to observe how it operates and he was an African corner and met Tanzanians who were there to market our country, so the interest to travel to Tanzania is there, all that is needed is constant marketing of what is unique in our tourism. Going against the conventional ways to market the country, Mangachi chose music as an outlet to introduce young Swiss to Tanzania, he collaborated with a Swiss musician and filmed a music video in Tanzania. “There is so much to do, I have a ton of artists who want to shoot in Tanzania and show the parts of Tanzania,” he said. He has fresh ideas on how tourism can be marketed in Switzerland, all he wishes is to get more cooperation from Tanzanian authorities.

Working as an events manager for the Swiss Africa business circle, he had first-hand experience with how other countries in Africa conduct their businesses, and he learned that punctuality is crucial in closing deals. When you meet the investors and they email with inquiries, responding promptly would increase the probability of having a dollar investment. In the cases that officials take a long time to respond, that affects the credibility of the country, he observed.

Organizing the Swiss pavilion, with the responsibility of organizing events, he visited the Tanzanian pavilion and all he saw was tanzanite, Kilimanjaro and the new Nyerere Damn exhibited, but looking at other African countries exhibiting much more, with the same space allocated, they had a private office where an investor could talk to their representative away from other visitors, they were selling their home-grown coffee, they were showing their culture and he felt Tanzania could replicate that.

“Tanzania is much more than just Kilimanjaro, and Serengeti,” he said. Creativity in marketing the country is important to stand out from the competition.

He sees an opportunity for Tanzania to market our culture and cuisine and he plans to do that in the upcoming fair in Osaka, Japan.

“It’s not hard to create excellence, you just have to put effort into it” he added. Mangachi has worked closely with the Swiss-Tanzania Chamber of Commerce and he will become a member this year, which will help him build his business network and understand the business environment in Tanzania.