Tanzania keen for Israeli expertise

Agri-Business 

Monday, March 24, 2014 

BY KENAN KALAGHO, EAST AFRICAN BUSINESS WEEK, KAMPALA, UGANDA

IRRIGATION: Israel is renowned for transforming deserts.

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania -  Tanzania’s green revolution is now coming up for the better after the country invited the state of Israel and its business men with an aim exploiting the expertise in the agriculture sector.
Speaking in Dar es Salaam last week during the just concluded Tanzania Israel Business and Investment Forum, the Vice President Dr. Gharib Bilal said the green revolution would only be realized through the exchange of experiences, expertise, technology and knowledge from countries that have recorded success in the sector.
Dr. Bilal said the country is willing to attract committed investors with the techno-know-how, just like that of Israel which have managed to transform a desert land into an agricultural productive land, able to feed itself and the world at large.
“We want to have sound investors with the knowledge, technology and capital who will be able to benefit the country and our people at large” Dr Bilal said.
Tanzania believes agriculture is likely to turn for the better after by inviting and working closely with the state of Israel to ensure that it imparts the technology, knowledge and expertise of agriculture to the local Tanzania citizens who depend heavily on agriculture.
These initiatives have been taken following the achievements in agriculture that has been recorded by the state of Israel through the production and exportation of agriculture products throughout the world despite its country’s experiences of dryness with few sources of water for agriculture irrigation.
This would mean creating job opportunities for the majority citizens in the country who are famers and boosting agro-processing industries.
 Israel representative, Gilad Millo said Tanzania needs to be keen on how it market itself to the world to ensure it  attract investors .

By Kenan Kalagho, Monday, March 24th, 2014

Smart starts regional services

BY KENAN KALAGHO & BAZ WAISWA, EAST AFRICAN BUSINESS WEEK, KAMPALA, UGANDA March 24th, 2014

THIS IS IT: Bouziani said their company is here to stay and they want to offer a different level of service across the region. (PHOTO BY BAZ WAISWA)

The East African countries of Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi, last week saw a new telecommunication service provider enter their respective markets offering voice and data services.
The new company, Smart East Africa (Smart Telecom), is partly owned by Industrial Promotions Services (IPS), a subsidiary of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED). The firm, officials say, will focus on innovation and customer care.
Speaking at the Kampala launch, Abdellatif Bouziani, Smart Telecom Group CEO said the new telecom firm will expand its unique and proven social enterprise business model in the three countries.
The launch in Uganda was followed by a similar one in Tanzania last Wednesday and Burundi will be this week.
Speaking in Dar es Salaam, Bouziani said Tanzania had a good environment for conducting business.
He said, “We discovered in our market survey that the telecom project investment in the region will have more value and will attain the required growth.”
Already in Uganda Smart has indicated that it is braced for the competition by launching with the lowest price anyone can encounter in the country.
For example a Smart customer in Uganda will only pay Ush74 per each call without time limitation, this is the lowest when you compare to the existing billing of Ush4 per second which adds to Ush240 a minute or unit.
Bouziani said in Dar es Salaam, their company wants to offer a new telecommunication service to serve the people of East Africa region at a very competitive rate of Tsh79 ($0.048) per call.
He said their firm had been involved in survey to determine both the market and sustainability of their investment and found out that the region had more value for their investment.
“We discovered in our market survey that the telecomm project investment in the region will have more value and will attain the required growth,” Bouziani said, adding that lower costs of their services will likely attract many customers.
Bouziani told his Kampala audience their expeditions in Afghanistan with Roshan, a 40% shareholding in Tcell in Tajikistan and their investment adventures in SEACOM submarine gives them the necessary experience to grow a commendable telco in the region.
He said: “We are here for the long term. There will be a product for every segment, we are listening to people and designing what they need.”

Tanzania export zones attract $1b

News 

Sunday, March 16, 2014 

JOBS: Meru said in 2013 they were expecting 25 big investors and instead got 31.

Dr. Aldehelm Meru, the Director General of the Tanzania Export Processing Zones Authority (EPZA), recently highlighted the success of the government’s policy during the past 10 years to attract investment both in processing and manufacturing.  Some $1.02 billion has already been spent in setting up various enterprises. Last week, he spoke to East African Business Week’s Kenan Kalagho. Below are excerpts. 

Question: It’s now over 10 years since the inception of the EPZA, do you think the idea was appropriate and have you been able to achieve the anticipated goals?

 

Answer: The idea of introducing the Export Processing Zones Authority in the country was very right, because the country has been able to create more than 27,000 direct jobs and over 80,000 indirect jobs, attracting some $1.02 billion in capital investment for 98 companies. These companies with EPZ schemes are involved in both processing and manufacturing processing.

Have you then been able to surpass your set targets in terms of job creation and industry investment and if yes, what have been the reasons behind this success?

 

Yes, we have been able to surpass the targets in both job creation and industry investments.

Last year alone, we managed to attract 31 big investors while our target was only 25. These achievements have been due to community’s good understanding on EPZ in-terms of available opportunities and benefits to investors. 

We have also managed to create a lot of awareness on EPZ and the commitments of our team in promoting EPZ both locally and internationally as well as the governments political will in supporting the infrastructure especially electricity, that has helped the scheme to be attractive and get more investors. 

There is the issue of tax exemptions offered by the government to investors; do you think this is appropriate considering the conducive environment the country is endowed with?

 

The public need to understand that it is very important and appropriate for a country to offer tax incentives to investors. There is a perception that giving incentives to new investments is loss of government revenue. 

You give incentives to new investments which means that revenue is not there in the first place. 

 

How can you lose something that you did not have in the first place and you cannot claim to lose revenue to a company where there was no tax at all? 

 

For example, in mining sector you can talk of losing revenue if incentives are offered because we have the resources on the ground, but with industries it’s a different story because sometimes investors go to a place where there is no industry at all and therefore you cannot claim to lose revenue in such circumstances. These incentives are given even in other countries like Kenya, Ghana, China, Namibia, Malaysia, Nigeria and so on.

What countries have invested the most in the EPZ in Tanzania and in what capacity?

 

The countries that are investing much in EPZ in Tanzania include, India, seconded by China, South Africa, Thailand and the USA. Most of these investors are mainly investing in agro-processing industries followed by mineral processing and engineering.

Apart from the current EPZ areas of Dar es Salaam, Bagamoyo and Mtwara, Are there any plans to scatter these projects to other regions?

We have set aside land to be able to scatter the program throughout the country in mainly 20 regions in the country. 

We want to work with regional authorities to locate us land for EPZ between 500 hectares to 2,000 hectares of land which will be used for the projects in such regions

In your own view, is it appropriate for Tanzania as a country to join forces with other East African countries and sign the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union countries?

 

I do not have a problem with the EPA, because it makes us closer to European countries and it will help us trade direct as a bloc with EU countries. It enables us to get markets in European countries. It would increase trade and it is good to have partners in business as it helps us to trade duty-free with the EU.

Our countries rely entirely on exports, because we need foreign currency to be able to balance foreign payments whenever we import oil, machinery, medicines and so on.

The problem is the conditions which favour one side (EU) and as an East African bloc we are not pleased with the conditions that have so far been set, because we need a partnership that would be solely a win-win situation.  

Any advice to Tanzanian’s with regards to EPZ?

 

We need take the advantage of the EPZ and Special Economic Zones (SEZ) schemes which have a lot of opportunities and benefits. They provide lucrative incentives that enable investors to get back their investment capital at the best earliest time. Tanzanians should not lean back and wait for foreigners to come and take advantage of opportunities which exist, on the contrary they should stand forward and grab the opportunities to make sure that its we Tanzanians who are developing our economy.

Tanzania discounts report on EPZ faults

News 

Sunday, March 16, 2014 

BY KENAN KALAGHO, EAST AFRICAN BUSINESS WEEK, KAMPALA, UGANDA

IN THE ZONE: An OECD report claims losses of $700 million.

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania - Dr. Aldehelm Meru, the Director General of the Tanzania Export Processing Zones Authority (EPZA), has discounted a report that criticises Tanzania’s export zone policy.
Commenting on the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report titled ‘Investment Review of Tanzania’ he said it lacked facts and was entirely based on personal views.
The report described Tanzania’s EPZs as the largest loss makers. The authors claim some $701 million had gone down the drain since EPZs were started in 2002.
The report also claimed that the zones had not lived up to expectations due to the government offering tax incentives to new enterprises. The authors say this has cost the government millions in tax revenue.
However, Dr Meru said, “A large number of our competitors offer similar incentives including tax holidays, if we resolve to abandon tax exemptions, Tanzania will not be competitive.”
He named the countries that offer such incentives as the Phillipines, Ethiopia, Kenya, Burundi, Malaysia, Namibia, China, Rwanda and Nigeria where new investors were being offered similar incentives.
“Only 1% of the total FDI comes to Africa, of which 99% goes to South Africa Nigeria and Egypt, the rest of the countries fight for the remaining 1%. This justifies a need for being competitive,” he said.
He said despite issuance of tax exemptions to new investors, the government still benefits throuigh job creation and technology, all crucial for economic growth. “We are very open on tax incentives as we offer a 10 years tax incentives and 30% tax after the 10 years, while other countries like Kenya have a 10 years and 25% tax for the next 10 years and Rwanda offers tax holiday for the entire life of the company,” Dr Meru said.

Zanzibar fishers get Japanese aid

Agri-Business 

Monday, March 17, 2014 

BY KENAN KALAGHO, EAST AFRICAN BUSINESS WEEK, KAMPALA, UGANDA

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania - The Zanzibar government has received a $8.5 million Japanese grant for the development of the Malindi fish landing and marketing facilities in Zanzibar.
In a press statement to East African Business Week it is stated that the money will be used for the construction of the landing quays. This will enable safe accommodation of about 400 fishing boats on the island.
The funds will also help in the construction of a fish market and the provision of equipment that would allow smooth operations for around 6,000 users besides helping in fishing management programs.
The grant agreement according to the statement was signed by the chief representative of JICA, Tanzania Office Yasunori Onishi and Khamis Omar, the Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Finance in the Revolutionary government of Zanzibar.
According to Onishi, the implementation of these components will to the greater extent help in implementation of the said projects which will later lead to the stable supply of better quality fish to the people of Zanzibar.
According to Zanzibar government officials the funds will help in ensuring that the illegal fishing practices is halted which will later translate into a more modern fishing methods in order to protect environment and ensure a rapid income in the fishing industry.
An official in Zanzibar government said the construction of a $2.5million complex owned by the Zanzibar Fishing Authority last year was also one the indicators that the fishing industry in the isle is improving.
He said Zanzibar was willing to do its level best to ensure that fishing sector generates the more income for its people.
Currently Zanzibar major export earnings are from cloves which dropped last year to $2.1 million exports during the year ending September 2013, being a 60.2% drop from $4.3 million exported during the preceding year according to according to the Bank of Tanzania’s (BoT) Monthly Economic Review for October 2013.
With the decline in clove exports last year, Zanzibar’s export of goods and services dropped to $176.4 million during the year ending September 2013 from $196.6 million recorded in the same period a year before.
Despite the support being rendered to the fishing industry, most Zanzibar’s are also farmers, farming mainly Cassava, Sweat potatoes Rice, Cloves at relatively small scale with only one Research Institute at Kizimbani Research Center.

By Kenan Kalagho, Monday, March 17th, 2014

Tanzania parastatal savings fund eyes $1.2 billion

News 

Monday, March 10, 2014 

BY KENAN KALAGHO, EACT AFRICAN BUSINESS WEEK, KAMPALA UGANDA

EYEING THE FUTURE: Mollel said most of the money raised would go into local real estate development.

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania - The Tanzania Parastatal Pension Fund (PPF) is planning to raise its capital to $1.2 billion (about Tsh2 trillion) from the current $799 million by the end of 2015.
This would allow the Fund to be a major investment vehicle in Tanzania.
According to sources the money will go to servicing plots and real estate projects.
Eventually this will allow members and especially civil servants, to access descent homes through loan acquisition.
Speaking in Dar es Salaam last week, the PPF Member Services Manager Godfrey Mollel said in order to realize such a dream the firm is planning to enroll 400,000 members by 2015.
 He said this will enable PPF to implement much of the projects currently on the drawing board.
Mollel said, “With the increase in number of our members, we shall embark on houses construction in order to let our members own their own houses.”
 According to TanzaniaInvest.com website, developments within the construction sector have benefited the Tanzania real estate sector through the creation of additional real estate space.
This is despite the fact that real estate sector has not made significant contributions to the GDP in recent years.
However, the government remains optimistic with the recent planned developments that it will contribute to the growth of the sector. Currently Tanzania’s largest market for investors in the real estate sector can be found in office development.
Knight Frank, a UK-headquartered global property consultancy ranks as one of the major real estate managers in Tanzania.
Mollel said in recent years there has been considerable development in housing, which gave PPF a sound direction for investment opportunities.
“Currently we offer traditional benefits that includes old age, death survival, sickness, gratuity, withdrawal, education as well as deposit administration scheme benefit which involves interests and annuities of employers or employees,” he said.
However he said there was still much misinformation about pension funds in the country.
The Tanzania Pensions Fund is amongst the major pension funds in Tanzania.  It was launched in 1978 with an aim of offering old age and other benefits to its members.

A walk to Zanzibar’s town attractions

Travel 

Monday, March 10, 2014 

BY KENAN KALAGHO, EAST AFRICAN BUSINESS WEEK, KAMPALA, UGANDA

The House of Wonders

ZANZIBAR ISLAND - A twenty minutes flight to Zanzibar from Dar es Salaam will not bring any delight especially for the first comers on board.
However, the moment you approach the island and have a glimpse through the plane windows of the white stretch dotted clean beaches of Zanzibar, you soon start to realize the beauties and fun that goes with this precious spice island.
As soon as the plane touches Zanzibar ground,  you start to be exposed to the famous stone town, the old slave market, spice plantations and many of the Zanzibar exotic tourist beaches.
My tour to Zanzibar was part of the Bioscience for Farming in Africa (B4FA) fellowship that trains journalist in agricultural science reporting in four African countries of Tanzania, Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda.
We toured the famous stone town that has with it 1700 houses located just at the heart of Zanzibar city centre. We made it to the famous spice plantations, some 17km north west of the city at Kizimbani area. You will be amazed to see the narrow streets of stone town that can hardly allow vehicles to negotiate through. You will have to be careful with the motorbikes and bicycles crisscrossing these narrow streets sometimes at awkward speeds.
This was my third visit to Zanzibar and each time, I have to pass by the stone town. This time, I discovered the spice farm is worth a visit too.
We were about 18 tourists from Tanzania, UK, Germany and United States. Our tour guide Abdi Kassu paraded us to the old market place which is still in use today. Here traders splash out vegetables, fruits and fish and spices among other foods. This is opposed to the old days when this market was famous for slave trade.
Kassu knows much about his work as a tour guide, he has been in this job for years. You could tell how precise he was when he begins narrating the historic events of the Island. He has the dates from years back by memory. I did a bit of history and I could tell he must have done a lot of homework too.
He says the stone town with around 1700 buildings has with it two churches, three Indian temples and about 52 mosques.
The whole of the stone town is under the protection of UNESCO as a heritage center, and many of its buildings were built in the 19th century during the reign of Sultan Barghash. These buildings still remain firm today with Zanzibari’s occupancy.
I was moved with the design of the carved wooden doors that carry the history, luck, pride and riches of the time.
Kassu says the artists of the time had in mind every design to bear a unique meaning basing on the activities of the moment. Just like in Tanzania mainland, around Mnazimoja you will find a building dating to colonial period. A building long forgotten but still standing as a testimony of the construction works of the time.
Kassu says there are ‘Indian design doors’ in Zanzibar stone town as well as Arab stylish doors. The Indian design doors are embedded with snakes, eagles and lion drawings.
Before independence, having such door designs meant such a family was wealthy and powerful. They were symbols of royalty.
The Indian doors also have squared shutters . These have smaller sections allowing the door to fold. The brass knobs on the shutters were said to prevent elephants from crushing the doors. Today with the absence of elephants on the town streets, the brass knobs are simply decorations showing the wealth of the house owners.
The ‘Arabian doors’ have Arabic inscriptions and decorations around the door frames. These houses possessed an outside chair for male visitors. Women who stayed in such homes were kept indoors . They were not permitted to come into contact with male visitors.
We were told there are almost 200 different types of doors in stone town. Bell-rings on the door-side-flame would tell the number of family members living in the home. These houses are built from coral stones locally known as ‘matumbawe’ and lime.
The most famous houses we visited around stone town included, Sultan Barghash house, known as ‘the house of wonder’. It was the first house to be connected with electricity in Zanzibar.
We also visited the old fort known as the Arab fort built between the 15th and 16th century by Busaidi group of Arabs from Oman . In Oman, Sauti Za Busara concerts are hosted every year bringing in musicians from around the world.
This old fort lies to the north of Zanzibar stone town leading to the forodhani gardens . At the gardens you will enjoy different Zanzibar cuisines including sea foods, roasted goat and meat, pizza and chapati among other foodstuffs. The meals are more delicious in the evenings. This is when you watch the sun set while watching young-stars diving in the ocean .
Our tour ended with a dinner at the ‘top tower restaurant’ where we enjoyed a combination of Zanzibaris, Indian and Arabic dishes. The top tower restaurant in Hurunzi Street in stone town was the first such restaurant built in 1870.
Here you will have a chance to view the entire stone town buildings and the entire city of Zanzibar. And upon our return at the Ocean view hotel where we could lodge, the sound of the ocean breeze at night and splash of ocean waters could kept us wishing we had more days to spend on this island.

Poland to help Tanzania make tractors

Agri-Business 

Monday, March 03, 2014 

BY KENAN KALAGHO, EAST AFRICAN BUSINESS WEEK, KAMPALA, UGANDA

QUALITY: The Polish are among the leading global tractor makers.

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania - Finishing touches are being put to a proposed tractor assembly plant in Tanzania.
Sources say it would be the first of its kind in East Africa and would boost both agriculture production as well as improve incomes.
The multi-million dollar deal follows an agreement with Equator Suma JKT Company which has a share with Jeshi la Kujenga Taifa (JKT) signing a contract with Farmers Company from Poland.
This means that once the production starts, Tanzania is likely to be a major exporter of tractors.
Speaking in Dar es Salaam last week the Chairman of Equator Suma JKT Ramesh Patel said the two companies have secured a $70 million loan from Poland for the project.
“We have been in talks with Poland for a long time in order to implement the government’s initiatives of kilimo kwanza that was initiated in the fourth phase government,” Patel said.
Tanzania has for the past years advocating for kilimo kwanza to woo the majority population into the agricultural sector but the limited resources and high costs of farming implements have been draw backs.
Patel said production is expected to begin on a smallscale in order to allow for trials to take place at Centre for Agriculture Mechanization and Rural Technology (CARMATEC) in Arusha.
Robert Parcia, a representative from Farm Company, said they expect to assemble about 1,200 tractors by 2017 and that these will be of high quality just like those manufactured in European countries.
“We are optimistic that the assembling plant will kick off in Tanzania because of the assurances we have from the government of Poland in funding the project,” Parcia said.

$6m project to expand Tanzania telecom services

Resources 

Monday, March 03, 2014 

BY KENAN KALAGHO, EAST AFRICAN BUSINESS WEEK, KAMPALA, UGANDA

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania - Tanzania Telecommunication Company (TTCL) and Universal Communication Service Access Fund (UCSAF) have agreed to improve basic telecom services in rural areas in a $6 million project.
The World Bank is channeling the money through UCSAF.
According to the TTCL Chief Executive Officer Kamugisha Kazaura, the project is expected to start soon and will see about 33 constituencies with around 202 villages and involving some 3000,000 people being connected.
 “Our aim is to make sure that every constituency and village that was lacking telecommunication for long time, to have that access,”  Kazaura said.
He said implementation of the project will to the greater extent help to reduce poverty in the rural areas.
He said that most of these areas where the project is expected to be carried out are not well developed and therefore difficult for business opportunities to flourish due to lack of telecommunication links.
Services being planned  include mobile internet connections.
According to the TTCL Chief of Marketing and Sales, Peter Ngota , the project will be implemented with effectiveness.
It will cover 16 regions in the country including Arusha, Tabora, Iringa, Kagera, Manyara, Dodoma, Lindi, Mbeya, Morogoro and Mtwara,
Other regions includes Mwanza, Pwani, Ruvuma, Shinyanga, Singida  and Tanga. It is expected to be implemented in eight months from last month.

Zanzibar cassava yields up

Agri-Business 

Monday, March 03, 2014 

BY KENAN KALAGHO, EAST AFRICAN BUSINESS WEEK, KAMPALA, UGANDA

TRY IT: Machano shows samples of their cassava flour which sells at just over one US dollar for kilogramme.

UNGUJA, Zanzibar - Fishing is an important aspect to most island dwellers but to Zanzibaris, farming also plays a central part in their daily lives. 
Hard to believe, but many Zanzibari’s are farmers cultivating on a small scale, and cassava is their favorite crop, although rice is also consumed in large quantities.
About 17 kilometres North West of Zanzibar at Kimbiji area in Kizimbania,  a group of farmers is already making a difference through communal organized farming.
Muhamad Machano the Chairman of the ‘Tumwambie Nini Farming Cooperation’ says their farming group mainly focuses on cassava, Upland Rice, as well as sweet potatoes.
“We do grow Upland Rice on a very small scale. The weather is so dry on the island that we can only grow other rice varieties in wet areas or during rainy seasons,” he said.
He said since the groups’ inception in 2009, they have been able to make considerable progress with the hybrid grown cassava varieties and this has given them high yields at every growing season.
“We grow cassava hybrid varieties that are resistant to pests and diseases as opposed to our local varieties,” he said.
He added that these hybrid varieties include Machui, Kizimba, Mahonda and Makama.
Currently the group is cultivating up to 20 hectares of farmland and from every hectare the group is able to produce around 50 bags of hybrid grown cassava as opposed to just nine bags they used to get before.
According to Haji Saleh the Director of Kizimbani Agriculture Research Institute in Zanzibar, 90% of the food crops grown in Zanzibar is cassava, because it is able to resist the dry weather of the island.
“We are involved in crops, livestock, fisheries but we would like to focus much on the problems of post -harvest,”  Saleh said. He said this accounts for at least 40% loss of all the produce.”
The institute is currently looking at the ways on how to train farmers on post-harvest loss from farm to consumers in order to allow farmers earn more from their produce.
The Tanzania government is still contemplating on passing legislation that would allow the use of Genetic Modified (GMOs) crops to be grown alongside hybrids crops and other local varieties currently grown in both Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar.
If the law is passed, it would mean that scientists will now be able to work on the drought resistance genes of other plants into rice, allowing the dry places like Kizimbani in Zanzibar to still grow their favourite crop in relatively dry areas and still expect bumper harvest.
If the Tanzania’s strict prohibitive legal clause as stipulated in Biosafety Regulations of 2009 are worked out, this means farmers in Kizimbani area will now have reason to smile in their faces because with innovations, scientists are now able to produce rice that could carry a drought tolerant gene.
This science innovation would in-turn enable Kizimbani farmers in Zanzibar to grow their favourite rice crop for consumption even in harsh dry weather.
However Saleh said, “Despite cassava mainly being grown in Zanzibar, it is rarely consumed. It is mainly grown for sale and export, their favourite is rice.”
The Kizimbani Research institute is also focusing on sweet potato improvements and offering training to farmers on the best farming practices in order to help them source for clean planting materials especially cassava and sweat potatoes.
“It is very easy for farmers to transfer diseases through planting materials if farmers are not taught on how to manage planting materials properly,”  Saleh said.
He said both cassava and sweet potatoes use stems as planting materials and therefore easy to transfer diseases”
Machano on the other hand says that due to the increased participation on best farming practice with the research institute, the lessons obtained have been able to help them increase more produce and are currently planning to elect an office from where they will be selling their processed cassava.
“We have been able to grind cassava into cassava floor and pack them for sale at Tsh2,000 ($1.23) for every 2kgs of cassava floor, he said adding that crisps has also been their business.”
The cooperative is now looking for more opportunities as it plans to buy a petrol or electricity grinding machine at the cost of $2,097 (Tsh3.4million) and $3,701 (Tsh6million) respectively.
Muchano says besides selling crisps, and cassava floor, they also raise money through members’ monthly contributions and selling of cassava planting materials for $1.85 (Tsh3,000) for a bunch of 30 cassava stem bundles.
He however said that they face a challenge in sourcing for capital in order to allow them operate independently and raise funds for their children’s education as well as meeting their family needs.
“We would like to have our own machines for producing cassava floor and crisps that would later help us to have our own brand and possibly make our products be available to super markets.