Tanzania is a challenging environment for SMEs. It is a large country both in terms of land mass and population, and there are therefore multiple geographic “epicentres” that need to be tackled in building an ecosystem. The country also carries a legacy of socialism and economic malaise that limits the entrepreneurial spirit, though this is changing.  In particular, mobile technology is rapidly advancing and creating financial inclusion, and a large youth population is seeking economic opportunity. The ecosystem requires building a culture of entrepreneurship, having the human capital development and support systems in place, and chalking up some “wins” in the form of success stories in order to crowd in organisations, funders, and entrepreneurs themselves. Finding anchor organisations and partners willing to invest for the long term will be key to Tanzania’s success.

 

Key findings

The Tanzanian government recognised the value of SMEs in driving its economy as early as 2003, when it introduced its small and medium enterprise policy. The government, despite the absence of a thriving SME sector, continues to support SMEs and tries to stimulate their development and growth through policy and initiatives. International donors also continue to support governmental and NGO efforts to catalyse entrepreneurship and SME development.

New initiatives are being launched to build entrepreneurship skills, commercialize technology and support opportunities for those who wish to pursue entrepreneurship. Donors and organisations will need to work together to catalyse an ecosystem as the current one is sparse in terms of both numbers and the weakness of organisations. This will take deliberate planning and co-ordination—something at which the government has not been successful at to date.

Other resources

  • ANDE's ecosystems mappings library contains other useful resources, indexed by region and country.

About Argidius’ mappings

We regularly commission SME ecosystems mappings in our target geographies. These studies are intended to give contextual overview and shed light on the challenges and opportunities for SME development and poverty alleviation. They include an inventory of service organisations and an analysis of the services landscape including areas of unfulfilled needs (gaps) Argidius use these maps to help identify organisations positioned to address these gaps.