{Rice, coffee and cashewnuts from Tanzania are in big demand in South Africa, an entrepreneur from the ‘Cape’ nation said in Dar es Salaam, challenging Tanzanian businessmen to grab the opportunity.}
Kwela Group Chief Executive Director, Operations and Business Development, Cuthbert Ncube, said although Tanzania has the best coffee in the world, the product is rarely available in the South African market.
“It’s unfortunate that Tanzanian products are very rare in South Africa… you have the best coffee and cashewnuts but only modified coffee from outside Africa dominates the South African market,” noted Mr Ncube, with a concern.
Mr Ncube, who also serves as Chief Executive Officer of Bucebo International, was speaking at the Export Processing Zones Authority (EPZA) headquarters where a South African business delegation that included First Lady Nonkululeko Mhlongo-Zuma, was hosted.
The First Lady admired the Tanzanian rice, which she described as the best in the world. “Frankly speaking, your rice is the best… you have the best rice I have ever tested,” said Mrs Zuma, noting that even Tanzanian cashewnuts can perform well in the South African market.
She challenged African countries to explore and exhaust business opportunities amongst themselves before thinking of far continents, blaming the African media for not doing their best to educate Africans on the continent’s beauty.
“Every time we think of a vacation, we only think of Europe … during my next visit, if God wishes, I will take my children to enjoy the beauty of Tanzania,” said Mrs Zuma, noting that Tanzania and South Africa have huge potential of forging business partnership for the benefit of their people.
EPZA Director General Joseph Simbakalia welcomed the South Africans to invest under the Export Processing Zones (EPZs) and Special Economic Zones (SEZs) programmes, which enjoy a number of incentives, saying under the one-stop centre, an investor can get an investment licence within seven working days.
He said the country has so far attracted 140 companies, with 68 of them Tanzanian-owned while the rest were foreign and joint ventures.
The EPZA boss explained that the first-ever private sector comprehensive EPZ, covering over 4,000 hectares, is set for launching in Morogoro next month.
EPZA Director of Investment Promotion and Facilitation Zawadia Nanyaro, said in her presentation that the country currently has seven industrial parks although the aim is to develop industrial parks cum commercial cities of at least 5,000 acres countrywide.
Tanzania’s EPZs and SEZs have so far created over 36,000 jobs, with over 1.3 billion US dollars (about 2.7 trillion/-) in export revenues. Tanzanians dominate EPZs/SEZs investments with 44 per cent while foreign investors and joint ventures constitute 42 and 14 per cent, respectively.
He said the authority’s second five-year strategic plan focuses on industrialisation as the country’s top economic priority, with agro-processing, textiles, leather processing, mineral processing, construction materials and petrochemicals listed as the priority sectors.
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