The couple bringing cashew butter to store shelves and healthy eating plans in Tanzania.



When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Mohamedhussein and Sabiha Rashid were left with a large shipment of cashews they were expecting to export from Tanzania to the United Arab Emirates, as part of their maiden entrepreneurial venture together as husband and wife. Airports shut down cargo operations, and for weeks, the cashews had to be stored in their apartment in Dar es Salaam.



Sabiha had to find something to do with them.



Having watched numerous episodes of Shark Tank and attuned to entrepreneurial thinking, it struck her that she could convert them to cashew butter. Sabiha had gone vegan for a year while at university in England and had experienced first-hand the benefit of switching her food choices.



“I used to eat cashew butter, but I never thought of why nobody was making these things in Tanzania, although the country is one of the largest producers or growers of cashews globally,” she says.



So, out of her home kitchen, she started making the butter, as well as conceptualizing the product and packaging.



“I was experimenting and made lots of different flavors, made people taste it, but from day one, I said that if I’m starting a business, even if it’s a home business or just online, I need to make sure that what I’m putting out there is really amazing.”



She was pleasantly surprised by the response she received for the Instagram page she started on her product.



“It really caught on… it was the start of a small revolution, a healthy revolution.”



For three months, the small venture operated out of the couple’s apartment – it even blew up several food processors – but the demand grew and they had to soon find a dedicated space to enable production.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
&#8220;PEOPLE DIDN’T UNDERSTAND THE CONCEPT OF CASHEW BUTTER – IT’S FOREIGN TO THEM… ALTHOUGH THE RAW MATERIALS ARE THERE, I THINK IT’S AN UNORGANIZED SECTOR THAT NEEDS A LOT OF WORK.”
</blockquote>



Farmers’ markets helped gauge the public need, and it was time to formalize the business.



Three years down, and produced out of three factories, their product, ’rosho, a catchphrase derived from the Swahili word korosho for cashews, has grown.



But it wasn’t easy to get here. ’rosho only uses organic cashews, so processing has been expensive. Additionally, as food production is



largely underdeveloped in Tanzania, as in other parts of Africa, prices are high.



“We’ve really struggled with getting hold of good food technicians, microbiologists and all of these [professionals in different fields] that we require and also expertise in terms of machinery for production, packaging, etc…” rues Mohamedhussein.



’rosho’s conscious consumers have stayed supportive though. Says Sabiha: “There are tons of options imported [to Tanzania], but prices are very high and a lot of times, we get the leftovers, so they’re close to expiry. People are not happy with the quality they’re getting from the imported stuff… We are a better and local option.”



They have also had to ride out the initial skepticism. “People didn’t understand the concept of cashew butter – it’s foreign to them… So, although the raw materials are there, I think it’s an unorganized sector that needs a lot of work,” adds Mohamedhussein.



“I think as a company, for us, there has been so much problem- solving, so much innovation that we’ve had to do,” says Sabiha, “so much independent research, because there aren’t any bodies by the local government that you can reach out to for advice, although the government has been supportive. There have been



a number of trials and working with local engineers to innovate and be more efficient.” ’rosho also exports and within Tanzania, is popular among tourists for its local appeal. The company hopes to have a better impact on smallholder farmers. The founders say the factories currently employ only women and pay them 80% more than the minimum wage.



“That’s what we’ve tried to do, to give our customers a different sense of fulfillment when they’re buying from us,” says Mohamedhussein. “And to also sort of pave the path for other organizations and companies to come and do something more innovative

tanzania story

From Raw To Reward: Bringing Cashew Butter To Stores In Tanzania

<figure class="wp-block-pullquote"><blockquote>“We challenged the legality of the levy. LHRC supports the payment of tax but imposing a levy on top of [regular] taxes is not fair.”</blockquote></figure>



By Inaara Gangji



The government of Tanzania removed levies on electronic money transactions up to Tsh30,000 through banks and is once again reducing mobile money transaction levies up to 50% starting October 1, after public outcry. The decision was announced by the Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr Mwigulu Nchemba, in Parliament on Tuesday.



“We discussed and reviewed a number of issues including reducing tax and levies’ burden on the people, encouraging the use of cash transactions, simplifying tax collection, and avoiding double taxation for both parties – that’s the sender and receiver,” he said.



The decision seeks to reduce the financial burden on low-income consumers, especially small businesses, women, and working-class people in rural areas who extensively use mobile money, and is a step towards better financial inclusion.



Mobile money is a key driver of socio-economic growth, and formalizes the economy, according to research by the GSMA.



Mobile money transaction levies were introduced in July 2021 by the government to reportedly finance social development projects, followed by the new electronic bank transaction levies from August 15 last year.



Following the introduction of the mobile money levy in 2021, the average transaction fee reportedly increased to three times the average fee for East Africa in July 2021. Cash out values reduced and many users and businesses as a result, as per reports, faced losses and moved away from using mobile money.



The levies were met with criticism from certain quarters, with stakeholders saying they were in fact increasing the burden on consumers. In August 2021, the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) filed a lawsuit against the government.



“We challenged the legality of the levy. LHRC supports the payment of tax but imposing a levy on top of [regular] taxes is not fair,” says Anna Henga, Executive Director of LHRC in Tanzania, to FORBES AFRICA.



This is the third time levies have been amended to assist consumers with rising living costs.



Dr Nchemba said that the government will instead now reduce its expenditure. “Let’s cut tea, snacks, domestic, and foreign trips for the officials of our ministries as the President (Samia Suluhu Hassan) has instructed. Let’s cut training, seminars, concerts, workshops.”



Tanzania’s mobile money market reached a value of $54.5 billion in 2021 and had 33.2 million mobile money accounts, making the country the leader in the East African market with 44% of adults having access to banking through these services.



“We appeal to the government to completely remove the mobile money levy. Doing so will support economic growth and allow citizens to fully benefit from the huge benefits of mobile connectivity in Tanzania,” says Angela Wamola, the GSMA’s Head of Sub-Saharan Africa, to FORBES AFRICA.

Mobile/Contactless Payment – showing to older man how it works

Tanzania Amends Controversial Levies On Electronic Money Transactions

TOPLINE Tanzania became the latest country to signal its support for digital assets this weekend as its president instructed financial authorities to prepare for widespread use of cryptocurrencies, elevating bitcoin prices further after El Salvador <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/06/09/el-salvador-makes-history-as-worlds-first-country-to-make-bitcoin-legal-tender/?sh=5313aaa7eaa3">became the first country</a> to make bitcoin legal tender last week and Elon Musk outlined <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2021/06/13/musk-denies-bitcoin-pump-and-dump-and-says-tesla-will-resume-transactions-once-this-mining-goal-is-reached/?sh=60560104aa2a">plans</a> for Tesla to resume accepting bitcoin as a form of payment. 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h3>



President Samia Suluhu Hassan&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cityam.com/bitcoin-closes-in-on-40000-as-elon-musk-and-tanzania-give-the-markets-a-lift/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">called</a>&nbsp;on the Tanzanian Central Bank Sunday to begin “working on” facilitating widespread use of cryptocurrencies in the East African nation.&nbsp;



While many in Tanzania have not yet embraced decentralized finance, Hassan&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/Benji_Fernandes/status/1404105080157126657?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;the Central Bank should “be ready for the changes and not be caught unprepared.”



Hassan is one of the most senior politicians to signal support for digital assets since El Salvador&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/06/09/el-salvador-makes-history-as-worlds-first-country-to-make-bitcoin-legal-tender/?sh=5313aaa7eaa3">voted</a>&nbsp;to adopt bitcoin as legal tender last week and helped give the flagging market a boost.



The announcement helped bitcoin gain nearly 10% in 24 hours, nearly reaching $40,000 a token Monday morning.



The token was also buoyed on by <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2021/06/13/musk-denies-bitcoin-pump-and-dump-and-says-tesla-will-resume-transactions-once-this-mining-goal-is-reached/?sh=60560104aa2a">news</a> that Tesla would resume its use of bitcoin when there is proof the asset is obtained using around 50% clean energy.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">Our President tells the Bank Of Tanzania to learn more about Cryptocurrencies 🙌🏽 <a href="https://t.co/UfstRm1ktw">pic.twitter.com/UfstRm1ktw</a>&mdash; Benjamin Fernandes 🇹🇿 (@Benji_Fernandes) <a href="https://twitter.com/Benji_Fernandes/status/1404105080157126657?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 13, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h3>



There is growing popular support for bitcoin adoption in Nigeria that also gained momentum over the weekend. Russell Okung, an NFL player of Nigerian descent,&nbsp;<a href="https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/bitcoin-letter-to-nigeria-government" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">penned</a>&nbsp;an open letter to the Nigerian president imploring the country to adopt a Bitcoin standard so as to avoid “falling behind.” Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey, one of the most high profile crypto enthusiasts,&nbsp;<a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jack-dorsey-tweets-support-nigerian-121200414.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a>&nbsp;his support of the idea a number of times over the weekend.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h3>



While reaching its highest point in several weeks, bitcoin, along with the wider crypto market, is still recovering from a tailspin that rapidly&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/05/19/leading-crypto-exchanges-down-as-bitcoin-and-ether-plummet/?sh=17aad93154ee">wiped</a>&nbsp;over $700 billion from the market’s value. This slump was primarily induced by Tesla&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2021/05/12/tesla-will-stop-accepting-bitcoin-as-payment-due-to-environmental-worries-musk-says/?sh=fa7a9ca6e9ff">announcing</a>&nbsp;it would no longer accept bitcoin due to environmental concerns and China&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2021/05/18/china-bans-banks-from-crypto-business-saying-speculative-trading-seriously-infringing-on-financial-order/?sh=455a4d677898">cracking</a>&nbsp;down on the assets. Support from the likes of El Salvador, alongside other countries and banks that may begin to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/08/bitcoin-2021-el-salvador-adoption-could-be-huge-for-cryptocurrency.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">adopt</a>&nbsp;bitcoin, or other cryptocurrency tokens, the market has slowly started to recover, though remains volatile. Beyond Tanzania, lawmakers in a number of Latin American countries have&nbsp;<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/latin-lawmakers-don-lazer-eyes-on-twitter-in-support-of-bitcoin" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">expressed</a>&nbsp;at least a casual interest in following El Salvador’s footsteps, including Brazil and Panama.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h3>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/06/09/el-salvador-makes-history-as-worlds-first-country-to-make-bitcoin-legal-tender/?sh=5313aaa7eaa3">El Salvador Makes History As World’s First Country To Make Bitcoin Legal Tender</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/tanzanian-president-urges-central-bank-to-prepare-for-crypto" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tanzanian president urges central bank to prepare for crypto</a> (Coin Telegraph)



By Robert Hart, Forbes Staff

TANZANIA-POLITICS-SWEARING-IN-CEREMONY

Tanzania Considers Crypto—And Boosts Bitcoin—As Nations Line Up Behind El Salvador To Embrace Decentralized Finance

Anjali Borkhataria is trying to change the narrative of fashion in Tanzania with a local brand aimed at everyone.



BY INAARA GANGJI



IT WAS ONE OF THOSE RARE OCCASIONS when bold neon colors, oversized white outdoor workwear and bright uncoordinated prints made their way on to the ramps of the annual Swahili Fashion Week in Tanzania. Local fashion designer, Anjali Borkhataria’s brand, EK AN TIK, its name inspired by Hindu scriptures, was a breath of fresh air in an industry that has been assumed to be set in its ways. 



“I believe African fashion is not limited to the printed patterns or kitenge, but we have so much to work with… there can definitely be more diverse design, but still have that African signature,” says Borkhataria to FORBES AFRICA. Borkhataria won Innovative Designer of the Year at this year’s fashion week and her brand has been worn by celebrities across the region and the African continent including Kenyan musician Tanasha Donna, Tanzanian celebrity Romy Jons and singer Mbosso, and has also appeared in a music video by popular Tanzanian singer Diamond Platnumz, featuring Congolese singer Koffi Olomide. 



But Borkhataria believes her brand is not made only for celebrities. Her first collection is workwear inspired by regular businessmen, electricians, and construction industry workers. It’s also unisex, oversized, and flowing. And while she does not prefer comparing herself to other designers in the region because creativity is not a competition for her, she believes her designs inspired by local street culture set her apart. 



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/MIKE-DEO-2-1-819x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-50422" width="338" height="422" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/MIKE-DEO-2-1-819x1024.jpg 819w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/MIKE-DEO-2-1-240x300.jpg 240w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/MIKE-DEO-2-1-768x960.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/MIKE-DEO-2-1-1229x1536.jpg 1229w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/MIKE-DEO-2-1-1638x2048.jpg 1638w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/MIKE-DEO-2-1.jpg 2000w" sizes="(max-width: 338px) 100vw, 338px" /></figure></div>



“Because, life happens on the streets, the streets influence me more than anything. So, I try to imply that into my design,” says the 23-year-old who has been a designer for the last three years. However, despite having studied at the Cape Town College of Fashion Design in South Africa, when it comes to the creative process, she does not believe in doing things in one way or the other. 



Her second collection showcased at the latest edition of the Swahili Fashion Week was inspired by games. Titled ‘GameScape’, the inspiration for it came from her father, who sells cars, batteries, and tires. It was also inspired by the Covid-19 pandemic as everybody sat at home and played games. “I don’t know what my creative process looks like because sometimes it’s a movie, sometimes it’s a piece of art, sometimes it’s nothing,” she exudes.



The tight timeframes involved in creating collections hinder the creative process too, with usually only five weeks between conception and production. She is not a fan of sketching either, as she goes with flow, not following a typical or organized process. This saves her time and sets realistic expectations, in her opinion.



Borkhataria also does all her production in-house and on her own. And she hopes that the independent career path she has taken by returning home to Tanzania from South Africa, inspires other young people in her country, no matter their background, to also be able to pursue fashion if they are so keen. 



She also credits her success to her supportive parents. All of this may make it seem like fashion is fun, and it is for her, but the industry is not free of challenges, she opines. She thinks brands create so many collections every year, but there aren’t enough people who can afford to wear them. “So, I wish fashion would go back a little bit. Today, everybody thinks that they know what fashion is, but they don’t know the main essence. For instance, I like music, but it’s not like I’m going to actually make it. So, I don’t like it when people buy a dress from H&amp;M for cheap and they think, ‘I know what fashion is’… I definitely want to change that,” she adds.



This is the reason why she wants high-quality local brands to reach the most people and hopes to have a local store of her own, as she currently works and sells from home. With all these aspirations, and while being a young, South Asian-origin female designer, doing everything on her own is not easy, she is humbled and inspired by being able to create fashion at home in Tanzania. 



“It is challenging but like in one way, it has made me very open minded. Because we are surrounded with mixed backgrounds… I think that has made me very open to different types of people. It just signifies there is hope,” she says, with faith in her craft and optimism for the world.

pic supplied

Inspiration From Where Life Happens

The rumblings of Covid-19’s devastating impact on the tourism industry could be felt deep in Tanzania’s wildlife parks too, where this year, few arrived to witness the annual wildebeest migration.



July at the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania was a different experience this year. The unending savannah looked the same, the animals roamed in their natural habitat and the wildebeest set out to migrate in vast numbers as they do this time every year. But it was the silence that was deafening. Normally, at this time, every year, the park is a magnet for international tourists eager to witness the largest animal migration in the world.



This park was eerily empty, and I was the only guest at the camp I stayed at.&nbsp;



Having gone on safari many times, including to the Maasai Mara on the Kenyan side of the park, and to other parks in East and West Africa, this experience was humbling. Covid-19’s devastating impact on the tourism industry could be felt here too, as tour operators and other stakeholders pivoted in unexpected ways to focus on the domestic market.



The Mbalageti Safari Camp, the property I stayed at, in any other year, attracts at least 75% of the tourists who arrive to see the wildebeest migration. The camp is located on a hill overlooking the Mbalageti River and is one of 37 permanent camps in the park. This time period coincides with not only the annual migration in the Western Corridor, but also the summer vacation period in the United States and Europe, from where most tourists normally arrive.



Shamez Karmali, the sales and marketing director at Mbalageti, admits: “We have seen guest volumes drop by over 90% during this high season… we have been forced to reduce our on-site headcount, due to lack of necessity, as well as manage costs.” In an effort to revive the industry, many local tour and safari operators have had to drop prices, to make these experiences more affordable for the price-sensitive local market. They are hopeful things will pick up once people regain confidence in international travel.



For locals like me, the reduced prices and slow tourist traffic, proved to be advantageous at this time, especially since outbound travel is still not an option due to the pandemic.&nbsp;



A possible boom in domestic tourism was wholly unexpected when Karmali drew up operational expectations for the year at Mbalageti, and he fully believes this to be the case industry-wide.&nbsp;



Even with the current travel restrictions in place across the globe, Tanzania has opened its borders to tourists. But in the short time the borders were closed, the positive impact of it was that many shortcomings in the industry were brought to light, says Collin Fortes, a director at Fortes Africa Ltd, which both the private sector and government have worked to address. One of the key issues was health and safety. The government provided training sessions for stakeholders on how to go about making this better, which in turn has improved the outlook on providing better customer service, especially since competition is now at its peak, adds Fortes. Fortes has since seen a rise in self-drive safari and camping requests from international tourists, but adds these are not ideal conditions for tourists who want a relaxing holiday.&nbsp;



The future of the tourism industry remains uncertain. Fortes and others like him have been inspired to get creative and market packages in line with the domestic market. “The current market conditions would not allow us to be viable if they persist for a prolonged period,” rues Karmali.&nbsp;



But for the mighty wildebeest, migrating across the ecosystems, it was business as usual.



-By Inaara Gangji

Africa. Tanzania. Serengeti National Park. The Mara River Area. The Annual Migration of The Wildebeests (connochaetes Taurinus)

The Greatest Show On Earth Few Saw

The newly-established delivery app industry in Tanzania is serving up old business in a new format, diversifying the e-commerce market and driving consumer behavior beyond Covid-19.



When Zadok Prescott first started the home delivery application, Piki Tanzania, he only thought of it as a supplement to restaurant dining. However, when Tanzania also fell victim to the Covid-19 crisis in March, Piki, which was still new and the only established app of its kind in the country, soon became the only way some restaurants were doling out their services.



“I think a lot of people took that decision to stay at home and avoid contact. So, we suddenly realized how important we were becoming,” says Prescott, also former CEO of Jumia Tanzania.



At the end of November 2019, Jumia, Africa’s leading online retailer known as the ‘Amazon of Africa’, had shut its e-commerce operations in Tanzania in a review of its portfolio.



However, ironically, since the beginning of 2020, in the very market that Jumia exited, multiple e-commerce platforms suddenly sprung up, from food and grocery delivery apps to ‘online malls’ that sell commercial goods, besieging a market still relatively new to online shopping and dining.



With Covid-19, the role these platforms played in the lives of local businesses changed almost overnight.



<figure class="wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><ul class="blocks-gallery-grid"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="763" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-01-at-7.36.31-PM-1024x763.jpeg" alt="" data-id="47147" data-full-url="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-01-at-7.36.31-PM.jpeg" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=47147" class="wp-image-47147" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-01-at-7.36.31-PM-1024x763.jpeg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-01-at-7.36.31-PM-300x224.jpeg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-01-at-7.36.31-PM-600x447.jpeg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-01-at-7.36.31-PM-768x572.jpeg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-01-at-7.36.31-PM.jpeg 1080w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></li></ul></figure>



For Levant, a fine dining restaurant offering Middle Eastern cuisine in upscale Dar es Salaam, delivery was not the path they wanted to take, but had to.



“When Covid-19 hit, our sales were 90% lower. Our plan was to give an experience, it’s not only the food you eat… [but] we realized people were afraid, so we had to focus on delivery… take-away was most of our sales,” says Hussein T Hamadi, the owner of Levant, which started delivering through Piki when the pandemic hit and even started its own delivery service.



Although this is the path Levant opted, Hamadi does not see delivery and e-commerce playing a significant role in his business with restaurants now reopening in full swing in the country.



Piki surely has an advantage in the country with its reliable infrastructure and experience, but the commissions are not reasonable in Hamadi’s opinion, since his own delivery service costs him much less.



He would rather people came into his restaurant because this is part of the service he wants to offer.



In addition to that, Hamadi is opening yet another restaurant, with a more delivery-friendly menu and where he hopes e-commerce may be more feasible.



On the other hand, Central Park Café, an American-style café and children’s park and venue that also works with Piki, does not see any way in which businesses, going forward, can avoid e-commerce.



“During these times, people rely on [Piki]… it’s basically a lot of the weight lifted off us for the pressure because it is a very tough market and things are very unpredictable here,” says Sidiqua Versi, co-owner of the café.



The fact that the liability for deliveries is also no longer her problem is an advantage, she adds.



Versi agrees the delivery and commission fees are not reasonable for all, and individual delivery is far more financially sustainable, but an app like Piki is reliable and she would rather keep working with them to use their customer base and keep her service timely and efficient.



However, she has noticed customers opting for cheaper options and more players foraying into the market with unique business models.



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New players, renewed approaches



Duka.direct is an online grocery delivery service that runs on a platform created by Selcom Tanzania, a digital payment system developer that also saw a very quick change in consumer behavior when Covid-19 gripped the country.



“The adoption was a lot faster than we had anticipated and we even had to accelerate deployment quite rapidly,” says Sameer Hirji, Executive Director of Selcom. It is planning to expand to a range of services to include restaurant food delivery, as well as connecting to businesses selling electronics, pharmaceuticals and other items, eventually throughout the region. However, its approach is not only controlling the supply of products, but in the long run, seeing itself as more than just being a customer experience and service provider.



“We’re thinking like a financial services business, but using consumer goods and services… We want to hopefully one day make e-commerce extremely mainstream and as a result, for the common man, who previously couldn’t afford maybe cheese, because it was marked up at like 30% at a supermarket, to be able to access those premium products and consume them more readily and rapidly,” he says.



He hopes to eventually pilot using Selcom’s widely-used payment agents to act as sales and pickup points, as well as introduce lending on the apps to allow customers to buy goods by borrowing from banks Selcom has relationships with.



“At least initially, [duka.direct] can be a standalone business [not making much profit]. But it needs to be part of something bigger that can feed it, and then continuously grow it…



“I think raising awareness and giving back value is where we see the market going,” he adds.



The biggest problem Hirji’s platform did face during the time was running out of space and local suppliers who were not able to keep up with the demand.



“That right image in the market matters in terms of what the delivery, the last mile, looks like… [and] to a great extent the optics it presents in the market in terms of brand and professionalism,” says Hirji.



However, there are players in the market like Inalipa, a platform that mimics an ‘online mall’ with a variety of local shops and brands, ranging from Instagram businesses to large retailers, that has internalized all operations.



“I’m sure our competitors, because of our model, have much higher volumes than us. But the experience that the customer gets with us is something that stands out… We’re able to control the entire customer experience. And I think for us, that’s the big differentiator,” says Nadeem Juma, chairman of AIM group, which developed and runs Inalipa.



Inalipa also takes a slightly different approach by aggregating retail suppliers and leveraging their brands. While Juma says it was initially not easy to bring them on, Covid-19 forced Inalipa to be able to tell them a story of how this would impact their business positively.



“Trading is actually what the bulk of Tanzanian business is built on… it’s really old business in a new format. And that’s the way we look at it… We aren’t trying to change the culture or the way a consumer purchases traditionally; we are enabling that same experience on a digital platform,” he adds.



&nbsp;But even with trying to maximize customer satisfaction, Juma found that the number one question among customers who went through the process of putting items in their cart was that they weren’t sure if they could trust the platform.



“Right now, we’re realizing that people are the early adopters, starting off with very small basket sizes and now those basket sizes are growing.”



Duka.direct provides store credit and uses marketing to build credibility and confidence and Inalipa uses customer service calls to encourage people to go through with purchases.



“What [Covid-19] showed us is there’s enough space in the market for different players as long as they’re very focused on what they’re trying to achieve and not trying to do a little bit of everything,” says Juma.



The direct contact and understanding of the local market is a large advantage to players in the market, according to Prescott, and is what differentiates them.



<figure class="wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-5 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><ul class="blocks-gallery-grid"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-06-at-2.50.37-PM-1024x683.jpeg" alt="" data-id="47152" data-full-url="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-06-at-2.50.37-PM.jpeg" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/economy/2020/08/19/tanzanias-recent-app-boom-a-new-market-for-e-commerce/attachment/whatsapp-image-2020-07-06-at-2-50-37-pm/" class="wp-image-47152" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-06-at-2.50.37-PM-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-06-at-2.50.37-PM-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-06-at-2.50.37-PM-600x400.jpeg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-06-at-2.50.37-PM-768x512.jpeg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-06-at-2.50.37-PM.jpeg 1080w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></li></ul></figure>



Looking into the future



Both Hirji and Juma acknowledge that the global valuation-driven approach to e-commerce, which was Jumia’s too, is not necessarily the approach that can work in Tanzania.



“I don’t believe that that is the appropriate way to go about e-commerce because you really cannot raise money at that scale continuously to be sustainable. You have to make it a profitable business… You need to identify what are the levers, one of the things that you want to drive, and then map that out over a period of time” says Juma.



Being in the digital space does allow you to pivot faster, according to Hirji.



And this can be especially useful in navigating the regulatory landscape in Tanzania because of the penetration of mobile money, in Juma’s opinion.



“It’s a highly regulated space. So you need to be aware of what you can and can’t do. And sometimes that can be what could slow you down… But I think it also allows you to contribute to the actual country’s growth as well.”



However, Tanzania is still a difficult market, with about 60% market share in terms of smartphones in the country and utilization under 20%, and if the penetration is further discounted by the number of people who will actually swap their traditional practices for an e-commerce experience, then that drops even more, says Hirji.



Such data is available, but not in much detail about e-commerce, mostly because of how the market has diversified only recently in the country.



Juma believes there is a greater good if everyone is a bit more open and transparent in sharing their experience of this business, as Inalipa’s data collection has shown customer sets that he didn’t know existed.



While Prescott acknowledges Jumia did educate the Tanzanian market on the e-commerce experience, there is a long way to go in terms of how consumer behavior will change or adapt in the country to prove sustainable beyond e-commerce being a critical service in the time of Covid-19.



“It’s certainly beyond just your traditional corner store saying, ‘I want to go digital because everyone else is going online’. I think there’s a roadmap that’s a lot more sophisticated than just a Shopify storefront,” says Hirji.&nbsp;



– By Inaara Gangji

WhatsApp Image 2020-07-06 at 2.50.39 PM

Tanzania’s Recent App Boom: A New Market For E-Commerce

How this Tanzanian entrepreneur’s tea startup is weathering the Covid-19 storm.



When Tahira Nizari started her social enterprise Kazi Yetu in Tanzania’s bustling city, Dar es Salaam, with her business partner and husband, Hendrik Buermann, almost two years ago, she didn’t anticipate the sheer scope of her big idea.



But she also didn’t expect that, because of an employee’s exposure to the coronavirus in April, she and her entire team would be quarantining for two weeks, stalling work in a year that she had projected growth for her company. With the pandemic’s onset, she lost most of her customer base in Tanzania, albeit temporarily, and was forced to come up with a game-plan and quickly pivot.



“It’s been an economic recession overnight, more or less,” says Nizari.



With family roots in Tanzania, and armed with formal degrees from Dubai and Canada, and experience in economic inclusion in the non-profit development sector, Nizari aimed to set a benchmark in the agribusiness sector in Tanzania through value-addition and by employing local women in her factory based in Dar es Salaam to produce “a traceable product” for the local and international market.



“Right now, tea is just exported in bulk completely (from Tanzania) and then all the jobs thereafter in that value chain are done abroad. So what we said was ‘let’s redistribute that job creation, let’s bring it back to Tanzania and let’s create a facility in which we can hire workers all locally and have a product that is 100% made in Tanzania’,” says Nizari. After extensive research in multiple target markets, both locally and abroad, building relationships with 250 Tanzanian farmers, setting up a factory exclusively employing local and previously-unemployed women, and many iterations of the seven blends of its flagship Tanzania Tea Collection using local flavors and spices, Kazi Yetu was ready to expand its scope in 2020.



“We were following our business plan… but we were really cautious and risk-averse (in 2018 and 2019). And then, we said, ‘you know what, when 2020 hits, it’s going to be growth’.”



Nizari was planning on reaching up to 4,000 farmers, buy machinery from China, grow the local B2B customer base, permanently employ all the women at the factory and begin to export on a larger scale after the launch of Kazi Yetu’s online store.



<figure class="wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-7 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><ul class="blocks-gallery-grid"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="576" height="1024" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/photo_2020-05-11_19-30-27-576x1024.jpg" alt="" data-id="46923" data-full-url="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/photo_2020-05-11_19-30-27.jpg" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=46923" class="wp-image-46923" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/photo_2020-05-11_19-30-27-576x1024.jpg 576w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/photo_2020-05-11_19-30-27-300x533.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/photo_2020-05-11_19-30-27-600x1067.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/photo_2020-05-11_19-30-27-169x300.jpg 169w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/photo_2020-05-11_19-30-27.jpg 720w" sizes="(max-width: 576px) 100vw, 576px" /></figure></li></ul></figure>



But when the coronavirus hit the local and international markets, things started looking very bleak, especially since Kazi Yetu is currently fully self-funded.



&nbsp;Not only did it lose almost all of its monthly income, but the farmers stopped meeting in groups for the training, so the supply chain was disrupted.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“In Europe, people are all sitting at home. They’re looking for products to build their immunity – tea is a great solution.&#8221;</blockquote>



The factory also had to introduce safety protocols for employees at work and at home, as well as reduce the number of people working at any given time in order to adhere to social distancing.



An employee’s father also died of the coronavirus, which forced Nizari to ask everyone involved with Kazi Yetu to quarantine at home for 14 days.



“So what we said was, ‘look, we don’t want to risk their safety, but we also don’t want to risk their economic well-being’. So we just paid all of them their full-time salary,” says Nizari.



“Generally, our operational costs have been really hard to cover right now… but it’s okay, because it made us pivot.”



It inspired Nizari to expedite Kazi Yetu’s plans to export, kickstart the online store sooner than anticipated and build up stock to send to Germany, rather than just focus on the Tanzanian market, which is temporarily quite small. Exporting has been an issue, given limited shipping at the moment, but the European market proved to be a pleasant surprise for Nizari.



“In Europe, people are all sitting at home. They’re looking for products to build their immunity – tea is a great solution,” she says.



Slowly, the factory is moving back to normal operations and Nizari is trying her best to ensure a steady income for the employees. Kazi Yetu is also now available on local delivery applications in Tanzania, so people can order tea to their doorsteps.



Looking ahead, Nizari hopes to scale up exporting through the online store and retailers, whether in Europe, or also in markets like South Africa where products from sub-Saharan Africa are popular, and North America where innovative African products are in demand.



“We want our product to be competing with products made in Europe, and for example, Sri Lankan tea, Indian tea and Chinese tea. We want Tanzanian products to be well-regarded,” she adds.



Since the teas are traceable, which is a unique selling point, Kazi Yetu is also working on an app that uses blockchain to allow customers to access data on the tea they purchase, from the farm level, all the way to their cups. This way, they will know first-hand the impact the product has.



In addition, Nizari is working on a farm-hub model to build Kazi Yetu’s supply chain by helping them produce better raw products through a no-interest investment that can be paid back with their final product over time.



“The whole ‘economy versus safety’ debate… it’s something we have to think about moving forward… You can’t just operate as a business that makes money, you have to think about… the well-being of your workplace, the well-being of everyone in your supply chain… And I think this is where social enterprises really come in,” Nizari adds. 



And a hot cup of locally-produced tea can certainly help take forward any such deliberations.



– By Inaara Gangji

C70D-4969

Enterprise And Traceable Tea From Tanzania

Kenya is perhaps one of the quieter domains of the global Covid-19 pandemic. However, as its hold intensifies across the country, Kenyans, from all walks of life, have found themselves not only preparing for the worst but also taking stock of the impact it has already had on their lives. 



By his own admission, Musa Esevwe, a 49-year-old sculptor and entrepreneur, had never, in his life, experienced trouble with his sleep. That is until Covid-19 arrived in his hometown, Nairobi, in mid-March.



Within the space of a week, a national curfew was announced via Presidential address. Not long after, as confirmed cases jumped to 91, a partial lockdown was imposed around the Nairobi Metropolitan Area, restricting the movement of people in to, and out of, the city.



Travel was tightly regulated and international flights temporarily suspended. The few who do manage to make it to the country, by road or sea, must endure a mandatory two-week quarantine, at the border, before they can obtain official approval to proceed to their final destination.



Meanwhile, inside Kenya’s borders, lives changed overnight. Intensive lockdown measures severely hampered trading for both informal vendors and businesses, causing upheaval in some areas. In April, small business owners clashed with police over the forced closure of their establishments, in Nyeri, a busy provincial hub in Central Kenya.



Schools have been shut since March and, while official numbers are yet to be published, thousands have lost their jobs and livelihoods. Those, still fortunate to be in employment, have had to transform their homes into offices.



“It is like a very bad dream that we are living in now. The happiness and security we once had has gone&#8230; we are no longer dreaming, even for those who can still sleep,” says Esevwe whose own business, which was heavily dependent on the disposable income of the middle class and occasional tourists, has been destroyed by the pandemic.



Along with Esevwe, among the hardest hit are the nation’s families, who, for months now, have been confined to their houses.



The lockdown period has been particularly difficult for Kamweti wa Mutu, an international development professional and amateur nature photographer, living in Nairobi. Currently out of work, and with his wife, now the family’s sole breadwinner, stationed in Tanzania, he’s had to play multiple roles to keep his household afloat.



“The quarantine order [on March 13] was sudden, but commendably prompt, meaning it was a somewhat tough transition getting our two children; Charlie, 11, and Adia, 8, settled into home-schooling routines. After a week, we [had to] put our house-help on leave, with some pay, so as not to place [any] undue risk on either her or us,” he says.



Prior to the pandemic, Mutu was actively looking for work. However, the economic turmoil set off by the virus is now a cause for concern.



“I have struggled to find full-time employment for a while [now] but my family has been very supportive with understanding and prayers. The kids have a good grasp of this, in light of the pandemic, but it’s not [yet] getting them anxious. As a household currently on one income, this aspect is a grave one. Most worrisome is my wife losing her post [because of the pandemic], or worse, one of our family members falling ill,” he continues.



Perhaps the most traumatic impact of Covid-19 on the family is their separation. With travel into Kenya currently restricted, Mutu’s wife won’t be able to return until her consultancy with an environmental organization in Tanzania concludes.



When she does, it will probably have to be by road as international flights are suspended. After crossing the border, she’ll have to spend 14 days at a quarantine center, receiving a special permit to enter Nairobi only once she tests negative for the virus.



While this has added an extra layer of anxiety to their situation, the family is choosing to focus on the bigger picture, insists Mutu.



“We have talked a bit about this, and what it would mean for a normal life, even beyond the current situation. However, we have not delved deeply into worst-case scenarios other than how Covid-19 is devastating other families and societies. We have stocked up on enough essentials including non-perishable foodstuffs, water, face-masks, and power to last us a while.”



Elsewhere in the city, Sophie O, who asked that we change her name for this report, is also finding life under lockdown a challenge. The 30-year-old Marketing Manager works for a major multinational in Nairobi and is doing her best to adapt to the ‘new normal’ of being based from home.



“It&#8217;s been quite difficult especially because I have three children; a nine-month old, a two-year-old and a six-year-old. It’s been hard for the two-year-old to understand that I am ‘at work’, he keeps barging into [work] calls and expecting us to play. Now, I have to keep my camera off during conference calls although ideally, as a standard, it would have to be on,” she says.



With schools now closed, and most students across the country taking classes virtually, many parents, especially those with younger children, are burdened with the added responsibility of home-schooling. In this, Ms O admits that she is struggling.



“Personally, I’ve really done my best just keeping track with all the lessons they have to do. I think probably if I didn’t have to be ‘at work’, I could have done a better job in terms of being there for my daughter but it’s quite a challenge. You have to work because work pays the bills and work also pays the school fees,” she says.



Factors, firmly out of her control, are also impacting her productivity.



“The practicalities of working from home, like having a workstation, I have had to figure out. But with the internet&#8230; some days it’s good, some days it’s bad, and some days you have a blackout and there’s nothing you can do!” she laments.



The experience of both these families hints at the wider setbacks being faced by businesses and the Kenyan economy, as a whole. From Nairobi, Edwin Macharia, Global Managing Partner at multinational advisory firm, Dalberg Advisors, has been leading a fortnightly webinar series advising African leaders and policymakers on how best to respond to the ongoing crisis. He insists that they must appreciate the severity of the pandemic’s impact and act accordingly.



“Our job [on the webinar] is to make sure that [leaders] are sufficiently shaken and begin acting appropriately. China bought the world a couple of weeks to prepare and get ‘ahead of the curve’ in terms of intervention but, unfortunately, that jolt wasn’t hard enough in some places. This is very quickly moving from being a health concern to actually being an economic concern,” Macharia warned attendees in early April.



At the time, despite relatively low levels of confirmed cases, African economies were already feeling the pinch with stock markets plummeting and currencies devalued. A few weeks later, as the threat escalated, the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) declared that a funding gap of $100 billion needed to be filled in order for governments to battle the pandemic, and its consequences, across the continent.



“The long-term economic effects will become more apparent in the coming months. Inputs not available locally will be inaccessible due to tighter border controls, while markets, for producers serving several industries, will be diminished, leaving many households without a sustainable income,” predicts Macharia.



If they are to have any hope of success, Macharia emphasizes that responses to Covid-19 in Africa will have to be a collaborative effort.



<figure class="wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-9 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><ul class="blocks-gallery-grid"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="890" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Edwin-Macharia-Global-Managing-Partner-at-Dalberg-Advisors-1024x890.jpg" alt="" data-id="46114" data-full-url="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Edwin-Macharia-Global-Managing-Partner-at-Dalberg-Advisors-scaled.jpg" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=46114" class="wp-image-46114" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Edwin-Macharia-Global-Managing-Partner-at-Dalberg-Advisors-1024x890.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Edwin-Macharia-Global-Managing-Partner-at-Dalberg-Advisors-scaled-300x261.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Edwin-Macharia-Global-Managing-Partner-at-Dalberg-Advisors-scaled-600x522.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Edwin-Macharia-Global-Managing-Partner-at-Dalberg-Advisors-768x668.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Edwin-Macharia-Global-Managing-Partner-at-Dalberg-Advisors-1536x1335.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Edwin-Macharia-Global-Managing-Partner-at-Dalberg-Advisors-2048x1781.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="blocks-gallery-item__caption">Edwin Macharia, Global Managing Partner at Dalberg Advisors</figcaption></figure></li></ul></figure>



“Flattening the curve demands that governments, institutions, and business leaders are intentional in how they implement their response strategies. Organizations will need to go beyond [their] usual business continuity planning while the public sector needs to re-model institutions in order to slow down the current trajectory of infections while ensuring long-term resilience.”



An example of these wider response strategies are already at work in a number of Kenyan hospitals. Dr Michael Mwachiro, Secretary-General at the Surgical Society of Kenya, is currently stationed at Tenwek Hospital, a faith-based teaching and referral hospital in Bomet County, 230 kilometers west of Nairobi. On May 13, the county recorded its first Covid-19 fatality, at Longisa Hospital, the only public referral hospital in the area.



<figure class="wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-11 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><ul class="blocks-gallery-grid"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="335" height="502" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/thumbnail_PHOTO-2020-06-16-13-12-13.jpg" alt="" data-id="46121" data-full-url="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/thumbnail_PHOTO-2020-06-16-13-12-13.jpg" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/life/2020/06/15/covid-19-in-kenya-we-are-no-longer-dreaming/attachment/thumbnail_photo-2020-06-16-13-12-13/" class="wp-image-46121" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/thumbnail_PHOTO-2020-06-16-13-12-13.jpg 335w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/thumbnail_PHOTO-2020-06-16-13-12-13-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/thumbnail_PHOTO-2020-06-16-13-12-13-200x300.jpg 200w" sizes="(max-width: 335px) 100vw, 335px" /><figcaption class="blocks-gallery-item__caption">Dr Michael Mwachiro, Secretary-General at the Surgical Society of Kenya</figcaption></figure></li></ul></figure>



“We’re now seeing more community-transferred cases in Kenya. I think the advantage that we may have had [compared to] other parts of the world is that we were watching as things were unfolding and, because of that, we had a bit more time to prepare [as a country], and put some measures in place. But if you read the news, or listen to the radio, you’ll hear people complaining that we should have intervened earlier but that’s a difficult thing [to do] if you look at how many stakeholders are involved along with the nature of our economy and public health system,” he says.



Part of these preparations, Mwachiro says, included immediately training the country’s health workers on Covid-19 procedures along with introducing measures preventing the movement of people from hotspots in major cities into rural Kenya, where a bulk of the population lives.



“Nairobi and Mombasa already have containment measures in place. The bigger concern is that, if Covid-19 moves out of the cities to other parts of the country, the effects would be much scarier. These [rural] areas are where the older people are, who are much more vulnerable.”



In addition to the supplementary training for medical personnel, some elective procedures and non-essential surgeries have been put on hold so that all available resources can be committed to fighting the virus at hospitals. However, besides preparedness, maintaining the morale of doctors and nurses will continue to be an ongoing concern throughout the crisis.



“We’ll have to deal with the levels of anxiety and motivation experienced by healthcare workers and first responders taking care of these patients. Doctors and nurses are human, too, and they are experiencing the same emotions as everyone else. You can imagine that, in as much as [their] families are worried about them, they, too, are also worried about their families, and themselves, as well,” he says.



Some medical professionals responding to the crisis, in parts of the country, have had to make the difficult decision to live apart from their families as they work to contain the virus. But the taxing nature of their work, coupled with extended periods of isolation, means that counseling and support services will need to be made available to them as the cases continue to rise.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">&#8220;We’ll have to deal with the levels of anxiety and motivation experienced by healthcare workers and first responders taking care of these patients. Doctors and nurses are human, too, and they are experiencing the same emotions as everyone else. You can imagine that, in as much as [their] families are worried about them, they, too, are also worried about their families, and themselves, as well.&#8221;</blockquote>



As it stands, Kenya, like most of the continent, has not been as badly hit when compared to epicenters in Europe or North America. However, this may be due to the fact that the worst is still on its way. In May, the World Health Organization estimated that up to 190,000 Africans may be killed by the pandemic, at its peak.



With Covid-19 due to exert immense pressure on our public health systems, it does offer some important lessons for the future, explains Mwachiro.



“What this outbreak has brought about, for us in Africa, is [the fact] that we need to invest more in our healthcare systems. This has been said so many times&#8230; there have even been a number of strikes [in Kenya] by various stakeholders, all of them trying to highlight these issues. This is a good wake up call. I honestly believe that, if we had spent more on health [before the crisis], it would have gone a long way in helping us to be better prepared. Hopefully, once this [pandemic] resolves, we can keep the momentum going and we can continue looking inwardly for solutions.”



Naturally, Covid-19, with its grim predictions and disruption of lives, has many Kenyans worried about the future. Nevertheless, the challenges of the moment are being met in stride. Families have quickly adjusted to new ways of living while their leaders seek sage advice on how best to address the crisis, and doctors continue to make sacrifices, day in and day out, as they brace for the worst.



Perhaps, most important of all is that, in the pandemic’s wake, hope has become an obstinate presence in all quarters of Kenyan society.



– Marie Shabaya

Kamweti wa Mutu with his two children; Charlie, 11, and Adia, 8, with their Golden Retriever, Nalia, pictured at their home in Nairobi

Covid-19 In Kenya: ‘We Are No Longer Dreaming’

The sights, scents and sounds of
Zanzibar include a 73-year-old tale of the iconic late British
singer-songwriter.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



Dress conservatively when walking the streets of Stone
Town,” advises the tourist brochures in the predominantly Islamic society of
Zanzibar, yet, the tiny Tanzanian archipelago proudly claims Freddie Mercury,
the controversial frontman of British band Queen, as its own.



The singer, born in the windswept streets of Stone Town in
Zanzibar in 1946 and one of the world’s most iconic voices in pop-rock, is this
tourist town’s biggest currency-spinner. 



Stone Town, which is a maze of historic alleys and spice
bazaars with timber shutters, an old Arab fort, churches, mosques and
19th-century stone buildings, is a World Heritage Site overlooking the sea.
Within its dusty bowels, leading up from its myriad walkways, is Shangani
Street, starting with a white-washed, two-storied yellow building that was once
Freddie Mercury’s home.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 



There are countless tours offered to what is emblazoned in
gold outside as ‘Freddie Mercury House’, featuring four fully-furnished hotel
apartments with balconies overlooking the Indian Ocean.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="462" height="602" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/SIA.png" alt="" class="wp-image-41340" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/SIA.png 462w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/SIA-300x391.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/SIA-230x300.png 230w" sizes="(max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px" /><figcaption> ‘Freddie Mercury House’, featuring four fully-furnished hotel apartments with balconies overlooking the Indian Ocean. Picture: Renuka Methil </figcaption></figure></div>



Outside are framed glass cases with sepia images of the
songwriter and vocalist, describing his famous connection with Zanzibar. Born
Farrokh Bulsara, Mercury’s family had immigrated to Zanzibar from Gujarat in
India. He was born to Bomi and Jer Bulsara who were originally Parsis (a
Zoroastrian community that migrated to the Indian subcontinent from Persia). In
1964, the Zanzibar Revolution forced the family to flee.



The island community’s lucrative tourist trade is even today
cashing in on Mercury’s global image, with tours offered at the Zoroastrian
Fire Temple where the Parsi family once worshipped, and to a restaurant named
Mercury offering fresh seafood.



“Imagine, Freddie Mercury played on these white sandy beaches and clear waters at one time,” says my tourist guide, Amour, proudly, before taking me on a two-hour walking tour of Stone Town. He points to the domed white Zanzibar High Court where Mercury’s father once worked as a cashier. 



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His house on Shangani Street, where the first settlers arrived, is a hub of activity, with tourists, and touts selling everything from icecream to tanzanite jewelry and African bric-à-brac. Just a few steps up, is the Shangani post office and buildings boasting Indian, African and European architecture, where you discover your own Bohemian Rhapsody.



Amour helps me weave through the heaving mass of human
traffic in the busy streets, to a fish and vegetable market in Stone Town that
also sells spices in pretty bamboo gift-packs. The fish is sold fresh and the
spices overpower the stench.



“Zanzibar used to be the largest exporter of cloves in the
world, but from 70 percent, it’s only nine percent now,” Amour rues, thrusting
a packet of cloves into my hand, “and that’s sad, because of declining prices,
more competitors and the poor encouragement of farmers.”



Earlier, I had visited the spice farms Zanzibar is so famous for, finishing off with lunch in a Swahili home stationed on a peak in one of the scented valleys. It was modest home-cooked fare but with aromas as strong as the spice farms the ingredients came from: a banana dish with coconut milk and cardamom, flavored cassava from the fields, fried tuna, rotis and the most fragrant pilaf (rice dish) I have ever eaten, watered down with lemon grass and ginger tea.  



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I had been to the Muyuni village in the south tasting the sweetest mangoes and bananas in all of Africa, passing seaweed-strewn beaches, paddy fields and potholed roads with bullock carts, dala dala taxis and motorbikes. 



In the lush mangroves of Jozani, I encountered the endangered red colobus monkeys. In the spice plantations, down slippery forest paths, I tasted nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves off the trees. 



The natural treats along the way also included lemons and sweet green oranges. As we passed the red mahogany trees, “beware of the green mambas or pythons”, my host had warned. A vendor in the middle of the forest showed us his wares in a wicker basket: soaps and perfumes made from the Ylang-Ylang trees by the womenfolk. 



“In Europe, Chanel No. 5 is made from this. Here, we call it
Chanel No. 0, our products have no chemical or alcohol,” he says, pointing to
the tiny bottles filled with red liquid. “These farms are so rich in spices
that the chicken running around are already spiced, you don’t need to flavor
them when you cook them,” laughs Amour, towards the end of our outing. From
Freddie Mercury to the farms, Zanzibar beckons the senses.

gettyimages-823663848-594×594

Stone Town: From Freddie Mercury To The Farms

Tanzanian billionaire entrepreneur Mohammed Dewji, who was abducted by unidentified kidnappers on October 11 in Dar es Salaam, has been released and has returned home safe.
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<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-37518 alignleft" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Tanzanian-Billionaire-Returns-Home.jpg" alt="" width="507" height="529" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Tanzanian-Billionaire-Returns-Home.jpg 1035w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Tanzanian-Billionaire-Returns-Home-300x313.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Tanzanian-Billionaire-Returns-Home-600x626.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Tanzanian-Billionaire-Returns-Home-288x300.jpg 288w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Tanzanian-Billionaire-Returns-Home-768x801.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Tanzanian-Billionaire-Returns-Home-981x1024.jpg 981w" sizes="(max-width: 507px) 100vw, 507px" />
In a statement released by MeTL group at 3.15AM today, the prominent businessman says: “I thank Allah that I have returned home safely, I thank all my fellow Tanzanians and everyone around the world for their prayers. I thank the authorities of Tanzania, including the Police Force for working for my safe return.”
The Tanzanian police have also released a video in which Dewji, dressed in a t-shirt and who looks visibly shaken and worn out, thanks his supporters.
Said a source who works closely with Dewji to FORBES AFRICA: “He was released in the middle of Dar es Salaam around 3AM today, unharmed, after which he ran to the nearest security guards who dropped him off home. He does not know who his abductors were. He was only taken about 20 minutes away from the city center, so he has been in Dar es Salaam since the abduction. He has no visible bodily harm with the exception of marks from the handcuffs.” 
She also revealed that the abductors wanted ransom but let him go on account of the media hype around the kidnapping.
Dewji was on his way to a gym session at a luxury hotel in Oyster Bay, Dar es Salaam, in the early hours of October 11, when he was kidnapped by the masked gunmen.
Dewji’s family had earlier offered 1 billion Tanzanian Shillings ($436,674) to anyone who could help them find him. 
Dewji, popularly known as “Mo” in Tanzania, is the CEO of MeTL active in textile manufacturing, flour milling, beverages and edible oils in eastern, southern and central Africa. He is also the main sponsor of football club Simba. 
Dewji was featured on the cover of FORBES AFRICA in July 2013 and was named FORBES AFRICA’s Person of The Year in 2016. The 43-year-old single-handedly turned his father’s trading business into Tanzania’s largest import-export group.
Dewji’s personal networth is $1.5 billion, according to the Africa billionaires list released by FORBES earlier this year. He is also Africa’s youngest billionaire.
Dewji’s office has said it will release a personal address by Dewji “once he is settled”.

Abducted Tanzanian Billionaire Mo Dewji Returns Home

Tanzanian entrepreneur Mohammed Dewji was abducted on Thursday morning on his way to a gym session at a luxury hotel in Oyster Bay, Dar es Salaam. 

According to reports emerging, masked gunmen in two cars ambushed the prominent businessman as he walked into the exclusive Colosseum Hotel and Fitness Club, where he is a member.
Three people have been arrested in connection with the incident and two of the abductors are believed to be foreign nationals, says a BBC report.
A Reuters report quotes Dar es Salaam regional commissioner Paul Makonda as saying the businessman was kidnapped by two men as he entered the hotel.
“They fired a gun and then they opened the gate,” Makonda said, adding that security personnel had started a search for Dewji.
Featured as a FORBES AFRICA cover in July 2013 and as FORBES AFRICA’s Person of The Year in 2016, the 43-year-old single-handedly turned his father’s trading business into Tanzania’s largest import-export group.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-medium wp-image-37430 alignright" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/use-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/use-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/use-300x449.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/use-600x899.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/use-768x1151.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/use-684x1024.jpg 684w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/use.jpg 1367w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
“Slowly, slowly, I am planning to take on the whole continent. I am very bullish,” he told FORBES AFRICA.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2013/07/01/1-3-billion-tsar-dar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: The $1.3 billion TSAR of Dar</a>
Dewji is the CEO of MeTL active in textile manufacturing, flour milling, beverages and edible oils in eastern, southern and central Africa. He is also the main sponsor of football club Simba.
In September, he met with FORBES AFRICA editor Methil Renuka to talk about plans to expand his business into the rest of the continent.
“It was a brief meeting and he had breathlessly related his business plans for the next two years; the new industries in his pipeline, and his desire to develop Tanzania with every new technology and product on the market. He emphasized the value he places on Africa’s human capital, the role of the youth to steer the continent’s bright future, as he has done,” says Renuka.
News about the kidnapping has sent shockwaves on social media and across Africa.
According to FORBES’ Africa Billionaires list released earlier this year, Dewji is worth $1.5 billion.
Update: Family issues reward after Africa’s youngest billionaire goes missing 
The family of billionaire Mohammed Dewji has issued a reward for anyone with information on his whereabouts. 
Dewji’s family has offered 1 billion Tanzanian Shillings ($436,674) to anyone who can help them find the president of the MeTL Group. 
The Tanzanian entrepreneur was abducted last month on his way to a gym session at a luxury hotel in Oyster Bay in Dar es Salaam. 
Azim Dewji, a family spokesperson, said in a statement: “We would also like to show our sincere gratitude to everyone for their tremendous outpouring of love and support that we have received in the wake of such adversity. We urge you to continue keeping MO in your prayers as our nation continues the search for him.” 
Dewji was featured on the cover of FORBES AFRICA in July 2013 and was named FORBES AFRICA’s Person of The Year in 2016. The 43-year-old single-handedly turned his father’s trading business into Tanzania’s largest import-export group. 
Dewji’s personal networth is $1.5 billion, according to the Africa billionaires list released by FORBES earlier this year. He is also Africa’s youngest billionaire.
Read the Family&#8217;s Public notice here<a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Public-Notice-Dewji-Spokesperson-15-October-2018.pdf">:Public-Notice-Dewji-Spokesperson-15-October-2018</a>

CTP5527

Update: Family issues reward after Africa’s youngest billionaire goes missing

In a span of just two weeks, both Kenya and Tanzania made radical policy decisions that baffled investors in East Africa’s nascent mining sector.
Firstly, Kenya’s Parliament passed new operating rules that require all mining companies licensed in the past year to cede a portion of their business to the government for free. Companies awarded the mining licences much earlier, however, were exempted from the rules that handed the government the right to a 10% stake in all mining operations licenced after May 2016.
“The State right to a free equity participation shall not apply to any right that has been granted to a holder to mine or exploit a mineral before the coming into force of the Mining Act,” the Mining (State Participation) Regulations 2017 reads in part.
Furthermore, the law gives the Kenyan government the option of purchasing additional interest or share capital in the holder of the licence but only with the agreement of the licensee.
“Any additional interest that the State may acquire shall be agreed with the holder of the mining licence and the purchase shall be at a fair market value,” the rules further state.
Separately, in neighboring Tanzania, the National Assembly unanimously passed amended mining and tax laws to make it mandatory for the state to own at least 16% of mining projects, while also raising export royalties.
This came back-to-back with the passage of two other laws allowing Tanzania to cancel and renegotiate contracts for natural resources like gas or minerals, and removing the right to international arbitration.
&#8220;In addition to the free carried interest shares, the government shall be entitled to acquire, in total, up to 50 percent of the shares of the mining company commensurate with the total tax expenditures incurred by the government in favour of the mining company,” the new law stated in part.
The law also raises Tanzania’s royalties from gold, copper, silver and platinum exports to 6% from 4%. It further raises the royalty on uranium exports from 5% to 6%. The law also gives sweeping powers to the government to reject a company&#8217;s valuation in instances where it feels that the price is too low.
These radical decisions by Kenya and Tanzania have triggered anxiety among investors in the region’s mining industry amid fear of the unknown.
“Although they may be targeted at maximizing returns from the sector, the policy decisions have no doubt caused concern for many investors, both existing and potential new ones. Every investor out there is certainly asking what next,” says Peterson Njom, an investment analyst.
<blockquote>“Mining is a long-term venture that needs predictability in both the part of the government and the investor. If things suddenly change then the relationship will hurt one party,” he adds.</blockquote>
In Tanzania, the impact of the policy change has already borne full-blown anxiety among mining companies, especially given the ongoing feud between the government and the country’s largest miner Acacia.
Australia’s OreCorp Limited, which has operations in Tanzania’s Nyanzaga project, says it will review the subsidiary part of the regulations once they are published to gauge the impact they would have on the firm’s operations.
“The regulations, which will assist the implementation of the proposed legislation, are not yet available. The company will review the regulations once they are available,” says Matthew Yates, Managing Director of OreCorp.
The feud between Tanzania and Acacia has caught the world’s attention, rekindling debate on the frosty relation between governments and mining firms in Africa. The firm, majority owned by Barrick Gold, is now pushing for arbitration on behalf of companies that own its Bulyanhulu and Buzwagi mines, which have been hit by an export ban.
In an ongoing court case, Tanzania accuses Acacia of tax evasion in 2016 and operating illegally – accusations the miner has denied.
Analysts say the policy decisions by Kenya and Tanzania, and the feud between Acacia and President John Magufuli’s government, could shape the region’s long-term mining investment profile.
“Both Kenya and Tanzania should work to reassure investors that their respective policy changes are well meaning. Investors need predictability so that they can plan their operations and financing,” says Njom. &#8211; Written by Allan Akombo

What Next?

In Tanzania, music is played everywhere: on crowded, colorful streets, in dala dalas (minibus taxis), and in roadside bars, which serve grilled corn and roasted pistachios. Tanzanians even walk as if they are dancing.
This passion for music comes from the tribes. In this country, with a population of 50 million people, there are more than 120 of them and all of them have different traditional instruments, tunes, and songs. In the cosmopolitan Dar es Salaam, you can hear almost all of them: from the melodies played on the ilimba, an instrument of the Gogo tribe from central Tanzania, to taarab music, akin to sung poetry, and popular in Zanzibar.
Yet the younger generation prefers bongo flava, a local version of hip hop. And the local stars are more and more inspired by their American idols; they imitate their music, gestures and clothing style. No wonder that older musicians fear that, in a few decades, Tanzanians may no longer be able to make traditional instruments or even play on them.
<div id="attachment_32641" style="width: 435px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32641" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-32641" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Music-in-Tanzania_Myriam-Meloni_08-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="425" height="283" />Hilary More, lead singer of the Cocodo band from dar es Salaam (Photo by Myriam Meloni)</div>
In colonial times, traditional music and dancing encouraged resistance. Today, artists are encouraging resistance against growing western influences to save their rich tradition.
Seventy-two-year-old Warema Chacha is a well-known litungu player, a stringed instrument of the Kurya tribe from north-western Tanzania. The older he gets, the more determined he is to pass on his knowledge and love for music to younger generations.
<blockquote>&#8220;I often tell young people that it&#8217;s important to value your own culture, because in this way you can know yourself better. You won&#8217;t know it by playing bongo flava,&#8221; he says at his house in Bagamoyo, 60 kilometers from Dar es Salaam.</blockquote>
&#8220;Many times when you don&#8217;t appreciate your own things they can disappear. If someone comes to me, I can help and teach him to play the instrument, even making him one for free,&#8221; he adds showing a self-made litungu.
<div id="attachment_32642" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32642" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-medium wp-image-32642" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Music-in-Tanzania_Myriam-Meloni_10-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" />An ilimba, a traditional instrument of the Gogo tribe from Tanzania. The Zawose family use it during performances. (Photo by Myriam Meloni)</div>
He has already encouraged his grandson Ally, who plays on the African drums in a popular band Ze Spirits, to also take litungu lessons.
&#8220;The litungu is not well known and we are the only ones who can save it from disappearing and introduce it to the world because we are close to Chacha, who knows everything about this instrument,&#8221; says 21-year-old Sajaly Sharif, Ally&#8217;s friend from the band that plays afro-fusion, a mix of traditional and modern music. “This can also be a good marketing strategy for us. Like most bands, we also play the guitar, but if you go to America or Europe, you&#8217;ll find people who do it better. We can be the kings of the litungu though. And thanks to this, people may be more interested in our music,” he adds.
Chacha is also teaching young musicians that music is not only for entertainment. His songs encourage people to vote in elections and warn against malaria or AIDS.
&#8220;What is most important is its educational role and the message it carries,&#8221; he says.
Music is also an important element of national identity. In 1964, when President Julius Nyerere united Zanzibar and the mainland Tanganyika to form Tanzania, traditional art gained more significance. His government used the performances of traditional artists from different tribes to break down ethnic differences in the young nation. Chacha joined the national troupe of traditional musicians as a teenager, and played in the group on the litungu for over 36 years.
<div id="attachment_32643" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32643" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-medium wp-image-32643" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Music-in-Tanzania_Myriam-Meloni_15-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" />A modern guitar and a traditional African drum, belonging to the Cocodo band. (Photo by Myriam Meloni)</div>
The Bagamoyo College of Art, near Chacha&#8217;s house, was founded in 1981 as a training ground for the national troupes. Today, it is one of a few places where people can learn real traditional music. The conditions for learning are something from a dream: classes take place just a stone&#8217;s throw from the Indian Ocean and the sound of the waves can be heard from the rooms.
&#8220;Students are increasingly interested in tribal instruments, because they don&#8217;t want to lose their culture. It is now fashionable to combine traditional and modern rhythms,&#8221; says Maulid Mohamed Saleman, a teacher at the Bagamoyo school.
He inherited his musical talent from his parents.
&#8220;My mother was a dancer, and my father a musician and a village leader. When he wanted to meet with his people, he called them by banging on the drums. Sometimes I wonder how he would have reacted if he had had the chance to listen to young people mixing the sound of the drums with modern guitars,&#8221; Saleman says with a smile.
“In the beginning my family thought that I had lost my mind,” says 34-year-old Msafiri Zawose, son of the late traditional musician Hukwe Zawose who played on the ilimba (an instrument made from wood and thin metal plates) and gained international recognition thanks to his collaboration with the British singer Peter Gabriel. “But now they like my music. It sounds different from my father&#8217;s music, but still it&#8217;s a traditional melody,” he says at his house in Bagamoyo.
<div id="attachment_32644" style="width: 478px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32644" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-32644" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Music-in-Tanzania_Myriam-Meloni_09-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="468" height="312" />Msafiri Zawose, son of the late traditional musician Hukwe Zawose, performs with his family at their house in Bagamoyo</div>
Msafiri has already recorded a few albums, and performed in many countries, including the United States.
Yet some older musicians are a little afraid of the consequences of mixing the styles.
<blockquote>“In 20 to 30 years there will be no pure traditional music. But I think it&#8217;s worth paying this price if we save traditional melodies and instruments from disappearing,” says 74-year-old Makame Faki, a famous taarab musician from Zanzibar.</blockquote>
On a hot Saturday night in Nafasi Art Space, a fashionable cultural center in Dar es Salaam, a crowd of young people dance to the music of Ze Spirits. They are drinking local Kilimanjaro beer and eating popcorn.
“Traditional music will evolve but not die. Tanzanians have this music in their genes,&#8221; says Rebecca Corey, the director of Nafasi and a co-founder of the Tanzanian Heritage Project, a cultural initiative whose aim is to record traditional musicians, like Chacha.
<div id="attachment_32645" style="width: 483px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32645" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-32645" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Music-in-Tanzania_Myriam-Meloni_01-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="473" height="315" />A man playing the saxophone at the Dhow Countries Music Academy in Zanzibar</div>
Chacha has also recently performed on stage at Nafasi Art Space with his grandson and his band. Sometimes, he even listens to bongo flava songs. He admits that some of them are not so bad, but he doesn&#8217;t understand why artists dress the way they do.
“Wearing trousers below the waist is not our tradition, wearing glasses is common for CIA agents so that people cannot see their eyes. Sometimes they wear women&#8217;s glasses and think it&#8217;s fine, and sometimes clothes for women and earrings. I pray to God to help them,&#8221; he says, trying to hold back laughter.
However, he might be able to forget about their outfits if they start to take litungu lessons.
“In the end, hip hop sounds almost like the Kurya tribe heroic recitation,” he adds with a smile.
&#8211; Written by Monika Rebala, Photos by Myriam Meloni
This project has been funded by the European Journalism Centre (EJC) via its Innovation in Development Reporting Grant Programme.

‘My Family Thought I Had Lost My Mind’

On a crisp late May afternoon in Dar es Salaam Ally Awadh, one of Tanzania’s most prominent businessmen, is waxing lyrical about a deal he has just concluded. Recently, the Competition Authority of Kenya gave his company, Lake Oil Group, the go-ahead to acquire all the fuel service stations of Hashi Energy, one of Kenya’s largest independent oil companies. “It’s a first step for us in our pursuit of regional domination,” says the 36-year-old mogul in lightly accented but supple english. “Once you conquer Kenya as a foreign company, then you shouldn’t really have much of a problem prospering in other East African countries.”
Dressed in a black T-shirt, jeans and handmade black loafers, Awadh’s look may be unpretentious. His ambitions are anything but. In less than a decade the young founder and CEO of Lake Oil Group has built his company into a $1 billion (revenues) integrated energy solutions provider, and he&#8217;s not resting just yet.
<div id="attachment_31450" style="width: 211px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Ally-Awadh.jpg"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31450" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-31450" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Ally-Awadh.jpg" alt="" width="201" height="300" /></a>Ally Awadh</div>
Lake Oil Group, which Ally Awadh founded in 2006, is one of East and Central Africa&#8217;s fastest growing energy trading and transportation conglomerates. The company is now one of the 5 largest distributors of petroleum products in Tanzania. Lake Oil Group also distributes and trades fuel products in Zambia, DRC, Burundi and Rwanda; owns its own oil storage facilities in Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo; manufactures lubes and Ready Mix Concrete Segment, and operates a fleet of more than 400 tankers. Lake Oil Group also has trading operations and gas stations in Rwanda, Burundi, Mozambique, Uganda, Canada and United Arab Emirates.
Ally Awadh was born in 1980 to a family of successful entrepreneurs. His father built a considerable fortune trading agricultural commodities in Tanzania, and as a result Awadh attended the prestigious and exclusive International School of Tanganyika for his High School studies before proceeding to Brock University, Canada, where he studied Business Administration.
While studying for his undergraduate degree at Brock University, Canada, Awadh once reached out to his father, demanding an additional allowance. His slightly irritated father chided the young Awadh and asked him to start earning income on his own.
“My father basically got tired of me always calling him to ask for more money, so one day he bluntly told me on the phone that I was an adult, and if I wanted any money, I needed to start working for it. It was a reality check for me,” Awadh recalls.
Awadh soon got a job flipping burgers at McDonalds after study hours. “This was a turning point for me,” he muses. “For the first time, I was having to serve people. I was taking orders, handing people their food with a smile, building up on my people skills and just learning how to connect with customers. But more importantly, I was earning my own income, saving and building a nest egg for the future.”
<a class="link preload-hidden ng-binding" href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/mfonobongnsehe/" target="_self">Mfonobong Nsehe </a>,  CONTRIBUTOR

Ally-Awadh

Meet The 36 Year-Old Entrepreneur Who Built A $1 Billion Oil Company In Tanzania

The long delayed signing of a new trade agreement with the European Union further exposes the chaotic state of integration within the East African Community (EAC) bloc.
The pact, known as the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), was originally set for ratification on October 1, 2016, but, five months later, that is still to happen.
The impasse has split the EAC bloc. While Kenya and Rwanda signed the agreement in September last year, Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi are yet to do so, citing the need for more time to analyse the deal.
The stance taken by Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi means that the pacts signed by Kenya and Rwanda are inconsequential – a new agreement with the EU must be endorsed as a bloc.
Tanzania’s President John Magufuli and his Uganda counterpart l have remained vocal against a rushed deal with EU, even as Kenya’s frustrations deepened given the risks of not concluding a deal with Europe.
“It is better if the signing of the deal is shelved until further consultations are made,” Museveni told a media briefing while on a state visit in Tanzania at the end of February.
Kenya stands to lose the most if the deal falls through. The other EAC member states – Tanzania, Burundi, Uganda and Rwanda – would continue to get duty- and quota-free access under the EU’s Everything But Arms (EBA) initiative, since they are classified as the least developed countries.
This whole quandary shows how shallow the EAC integration has been, despite the bloc attaining the critical customs union status way back in 2005 and a common market in 2011. Integration goes beyond just having such structures; other aspects, such as trust and solidarity, are critical to moving things forward.
A review of recent key events in East Africa reveals massive levels of negative rivalry and mistrust which doesn’t augur well for the bloc. Things have not been well since 2013 when Tanzania fell out with Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda following the formation of their short-lived ‘coalition of the willing’, ostensibly to push for faster integration.
The now collapsed initiative was a terrible diplomatic mistake by Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya because it weakened the spirit of consensus and teamwork in the bloc. Since then, the chaos and mistrust triggered by this wild experiment has been evident in key issues involving the bloc. For instance, a new infrastructure and energy partnership between Tanzania and Uganda has left Kenya frothing at the mouth, especially after Kampala pulled out of an initial deal to build a joint crude pipeline with Kenya in favor of a route through Tanzania.
Kenya clearly feels slighted by the latest dalliance between Dar es Salaam and Kampala as was shown during the recently held election of a new chairperson of the African Union Commission. When Kenya’s candidate in the elections, Amina Mohamed, was defeated, Nairobi promptly pointed accusing fingers at Tanzania and Uganda for allegedly sabotaging its efforts to clinch the position it had highly campaigned for. Both Tanzania and Uganda denied the claims.
“Uganda wishes to state categorically that our support to the candidature of Amina before and during elections was unequivocal. Uganda wishes to reassure the government and the people of Kenya, and Amina in particular, that we remain a reliable ally and partner given our warm and close relations and our commitment to the EAC integration,” Uganda’s Foreign Affairs ministry said in response to Kenya.
Tackling the mistrust and clandestine power rivalry will be critical in putting the EAC back on a clear path to full integration which would help address challenges such as those being experienced in the elusive EPA deal. The big brother syndrome has no place in regional integration and all partners must inculcate a spirit of comradeship to excel.
Kenya and Rwanda must not been seen to be bulldozing the rest to sign a pact with Europe. Their decision to sign the deal ahead of the rest sent the wrong signal to other EAC partners who read mischief in the whole process.
Concluding the deal with Europe is critical for the EAC as it would help settle anxiety among investors. Business loathes a vacuum and efforts must be made to clear all hurdles to find a deal that would be favorable to all.

Tag: Tanzania

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA