Locals have the most investments, says TIC

Arusha. Local investors are responsible for nearly half of investment projects registered at the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC), according to a senior TIC official.

Mr Daudi Riganda, the agency’s northern zone manager, said 22 per cent of projects registered throughout the country were under foreign firms, while 23 per cent were joint ventures between locals and their foreign partners.

Briefing members of the public at the Nane Nane Fair on available investment opportunities, he said statistics had discredited the notion that foreign companies were being favoured at the expense of local ones. Mr Riganda added that Tanzanian-registered firms had made considerable investments in agriculture, hotels, small and medium size industries, transport, the services sector, construction and the media.

“The fact is that Tanzanians are responsible for nearly 50 per cent of projects registered at TIC, with the rest being run by foreigners and joint venture partnerships.”

Mr Riganda urged local firms to take advantage of incentives offered to prospective investors, which include tax exemption for imported capital goods and a 75 per cent import duty relief on deemed capital goods.

He conceded, however, that Tanzanian firms were often outmanoeuvred by their foreign counterparts in winning major investment projects due to lack of sufficient capital and modern technology.

“Local firms also have difficulties in accessing reliable markets for their products or services and also lack management skills as far as big projects are concerned.”

Measures taken by TIC to address the anomalies include organising trips abroad for local entrepreneurs and similar tours in Tanzania for their foreign counterparts.

The centre’s northern zone office, in particular, has been conducting short training stints for local entrepreneurs in collaboration with the Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (TCCIA).

Other organisations involved in the training programme include the Small Industries Development Organisation (Sido), Faida Market Link, Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) and various financial institutions.

Mr Riganda urged local governments to allocate suitable land for investments in agriculture, livestock keeping and allied projects and construction of industrial parks.

This also needs to be done by social security schemes, he added.

TIC recently released a report indicating that tourism topped investment projects in the northern zone region, which comprises Arusha, Manyara, Tanga and Kilimanjaro regions.

A total of 785 new tourism investment projects – mainly tourist hotels and lodges, tour operations, tented camps and restaurants – were registered in the zone between 2013 and October last year, mostly in and around Arusha City.

Countrywide, the number of investments in the tourism sector came second to manufacturing among the 6,234 projects worth $180.4 billion registered with TIC from January 2007 to June 2015.

According to TIC, Tanzania registered 6,234 projects worth a total of $180 million between 2007 and 2015, with economic infrastructure emerging as the most preferred investment avenue.