YOUR BUSINESS IS OUR BUSINESS : DITF: in praise of ‘Expo‘ related econo-business

Today is ‘Saba-Saba Day’ in Tanzania which, we’re helpfully informed by Wikipedia, is observed as a public holiday – along with ‘World Chocolate Day!’ It’s also the date and month when, in the Year-1928, sliced bread was sold for the first time by the Chillicothe Baking Company of Missouri in the US!

But, those are tales fit to be told another day...

The story here today – the seventh day of the seventh month of 2016 – is that it’s exactly sixty-two years ago when the Independence Political Party of the-then Tanganyika was formally cobbled together in 1954.

Tanganyika Territory was mandated to Britain by the UN in 1946, ostensibly to ‘administer and develop...’

Transformed into the Revolutionary Party (Chama cha Mapinduzi: CcM) on Feb. 5, 1977, the party – Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) – peaceably secured political independence on December 9, 1961 from what was for all practical purposes colonial rule...

And, as they say: the rest is History!

Actually, it’s become an endless History-in-the-Making! That’s if only because the Govt. of Founder-President Julius Nyerere (1962-85) proclaimed July 7th a public holiday to commemorate the sterling work done by ‘his’ political game-changer, TANU.

In due course of time, events and other considerations, successor Governments under home-grown leaderships have honoured that proclamation to-date, marking the date with great fanfare generously laced with deep patriotic affection.

But, not only that... July 7th also became the climax of an annual Business Exposition (Expo) popularly known as the ‘Saba Saba Trade Fair.’ Officially named the ‘Dar es Salam International Trade Fair’ (DITF), the 10-day, modernized event is organized and managed by the Tanzania Trade Development Agency (TanTrade).

Before that, the Fair was organized and managed by the Board of External Trade (BET) of the Ministry of Trade & Industry. BET and TanTrade were formed basically to initiate and spearhead the country’s export trade efforts by – among other things – organising and managing international and specialised Trade Fairs, Solo Exhibitions, Product & Market Research, Prospects Development, Trade Missions, Buyer/Seller Interactions and suchlike activities... What with one thing leading to another, DITF has become an expansive ‘shop window’ – so to speak – for Tanzanian products and services at the national, regional and international levels every which way you look at it!

In other words: what started out as a modest National Agricultural & Trade Fair (NATF) under the-then Ministry of Trade & Co-operatives in 1963 has flourished into a world-class institution serving not only Tanzanian entrepreneurs in different Economic Sectors, but also entrepreneurs beyond the country’s borders!

Landlocked and ‘open-to-sea’ neighbouring countries – including Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Southern Sudan – all benefit in one way or another, and to one degree or another, on the back of the Dar es Salaam-based International Trade Fair!

Indeed, this is also one benefit that’s derived through membership of such regional institutions as the East African Community (EAC), the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), the Common Market for Eastern & Southern Africa (CoMESA) and the Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD).

In all that, DITF is ably-aided at the national level by economic development-oriented institutions that include the Confederation of Tanzania Industries (CTI), the Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industries & Agriculture (TCCIA), and the Small Industries Development Organisation (SIDO) – which also organizes Zonal Expos to especially promote Small & Medium Enterprises.

That’s to say nothing of sector-specific institutions in Finance, Agriculture, Energy, Transport, Public Utilities, Services – and, not least: the Mass Media Fraternity! Indeed, it’s on the back of these institutions that DITF has effectively and substantially reached out to global businesses in scores of nations which now habitually come in as exhibitors and/or show-goers (read ‘shoppers, prospective investors,’ etc)!

So, if run-of-the-mill chocolates and mundane sliced bread found their way onto Wikipedia in particular, and the Internet in general, why wouldn’t, shouldn’t, Tanzania’s Number-One International Trade Exposition do so as well? Why not, indeed? I ask you...

Here is to DITF… Cheers! [[email protected]].