Why algorithms are Tanzania’s new industry

It’s Saba Saba Season! A season that reminds us of our nation’s long-standing relationship with productivity, self-reliance, and the idea that we should own what we produce. It is a season tied to factories, farms, local products, and national industry, but as we gather to reflect on economic growth, there’s a deeper, quieter shift we need to confront: the nature of “industry” has changed.

The new engine of growth is not just factories or warehouses. It is algorithms.

TikTok, Instagram, Google, and Meta are not just platforms for entertainment. They are digital marketplaces that have become the invisible infrastructure of Tanzania’s economy.

Consumers are no longer only walking into brick-andmortar stores or live markets. They are scrolling and tapping. And increasingly, what they see, trust, and who they buy from first is being shaped by algorithms.

This shift is not theoretical, it’s here and now. If we do not build systems that serve Tanzanian realities, we will continue to celebrate local industry without owning the most powerful part of it. For business owners, creatives, and policymakers, this should be a wake-up call.

Artificial Intelligence and algorithms are not the future, they are our present day reality. If your company is not learning how to work with them, influence them, or build within them, then you may already be behind.

Algorithms are not neutral. They decide which businesses grow, which content goes viral, and whose work earns income.

We are competing inecosystems designed and owned elsewhere. In essence, we are participating in a global marketplace where the roads, the rules, and the referees are not Tanzanian. It is the digital version of exporting raw cotton and importing back the finished shirt.

It’s time we ask hard questions. Who owns our digital attention? Who profits from the culture, the data, the creativity produced by us? Because while we scroll and share, our data is teaching the system how to sell to us. Yet the value generated from that insight often leaves our economy and strengthens someone else’s.

The original spirit of Saba Saba called for dignity through economic inclusion. It pushed us to take ownership, not just employment. In today’s world, that means shaping, not just consuming the digital economy.

What does that really look like? And how do we go about this?

1. Support homegrown tech startups. We need platforms built by us for us (and they are out there!). Systems that understand our language, our spending habits, and our cultural context.

2. Invest in content that teaches the algorithm to recognize us. Every reel in Kiswahili, every blog post, every e-commerce listing, it all counts. The more we upload, the more visible we become. If we do not make ourselves searchable, we risk being left out of the future digital archive. (Online vendors keep tagging in Kiswahili!)

3. Mentor the next generation of tech talent. Not just influencers, but developers, AI architects, and platform designers who understand how to build for African users.

4. Educate for algorithmic literacy. It is no longer enough to know how to use social media. We must understand why we are seeing what we see, how ads are being targeted, and how algorithms determine who gets visibility and who doesn’t.

We are deeply engaged in the digital economy, whether we realise it or not. Our scrolls, our clicks, our culture are already feeding the system, but if we are not shaping that system, we are simply feeding a machine that does not remember who we are.

This new industrial revolution, economic power lies in platform ownership, algorithmic access, and data fluency. If we are not building these, we are being built into someone else’s plan. This Saba Saba Season should be more than a reflection. It should be a reset, because real progress is not just about automation, it’s about agency.

For inquiries and suggestions contact: charlotte.makala@ gmail.com