UK companies eye Tanzania for investment

Dar es Salaam. President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s pro-business approach is increasingly attracting the interests investors, with the latest being a group of British companies.

The companies - working in clean energy, agriculture, healthcare and hotels - have shown an interest of investing in Tanzania, it was revealed at the weekend.

A statement released by the Association of Tanzania Oil and Gas Service Providers (Atogs) said yesterday that the interest was revealed during a meeting between its Atogs chairman Abdulsamad Abdulrahim and UK Government’s Department for International Trade and group of British companies.

During the meeting held in London, they discussed various opportunities for British companies to import and export products and services into the fast-growing Tanzanian market, Atogs said yesterday.

The statement noted that during meeting, British investors expressed interest to invest in multi-sector projects and that a British delegation will soon visit Tanzania to explore and conduct feasibility study in various areas of interests.

“This visit comes in response to The Royal Tour documentary which Hassan and Zanzibar President Hussein Mwinyi recently launched. The documentary was also aired in UK media outlets that attracted the interest of a lot of investors. They are basically attracted by our friendly fiscal and regulatory framework, policies as well as lucrative opportunities in both Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar,” he said.

He said President Hassan’s marketing campaign for Tanzania has been successful.

“Tanzania has a lot of investment potential….The only task ahead of us is to make all this known to the outside world and also create conducive business environment and this happens to be exactly what the President has been able to demonstrate practically,” he said.

Reassurance

Meanwhile, the government has pledged to provide necessary support to investors in the industrial sector in an effort to help them to expand their investments to bolster the sector’s contribution to economic growth.

Speaking during her visit of various industries in Bagamoyo District, Coast Region over the weekend, the Minister for Investment, Industry and Trade, Dr Ashatu Kijaji, said the government was working hard to listen to investors in order to identify and address various challenges that they face.

“We are in support of President Hassan’s relentless efforts to lure more investments and contribute to economic development,” she said.

During the tour, she visited Bagamoyo Sugar factory which is expected to create 1,500 direct jobs and 3,000 more indirect when it starts production in July this year.

Dr Kijaji also visited Tanfroz Limited and Frizz Leather factory. The former deals with the processing of local poultry breed while the latter is licensed by the Export Processing Zones Authority (EPZA).

The Deputy Permanent Secretary responsible for Investment in the Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade Mr Ally Gugu, said the factories using local produced raw materials like poultry create immense opportunities to small scale poultry farmers.

“We are here to support you (investors) to make sure your investment is realised in a win-win situation,” he said.

For his part, EPZA director general Charles Itembe assured investors that the authority will continue to work closely with them to make sure they produce goods that are competitive in the market.

“At EPZA we provide various incentives to both local and foreign investors to make products that are competitive,” he said.

A representative from Bagamoyo sugar factory, Mr Hussein Sufian, thanked the government for the support in making the sugar factory investment a reality.