Trias supports the Tanzanian Chamber of Commerce in Arusha
Arusha is a booming city in a poor region. Although there are enough business opportunities, many small enterprises have to struggle to survive. Trias supports the Tanzanian Chamber of Commerce to cater for these small businesses.
Tourism attracts every year thousands of people to Arusha and this has created lots of business opportunities. Arusha is the centre of the flower industry, a large seed and vegetable producer and the center of Tanzanite mining, a gemstone that is only found in Tanzania. It has the honor to host the head offices of the East African community and already gained some diplomatic experience hosting the international criminal court for the Rwanda genocide. All these industries have created factors that make Arusha an interesting city to do business in.
However, Arusha is also situated in a very poor and food insecure area and every year thousands of unemployed youth come to the city to test their luck. Planning has been poor and the government has problems keeping up the service delivery to the ever increasing population. Small enterprises receive little or no support and have to struggle in the grey zone of the informal sector.
Trias Tanzania is since this year supporting the Tanzanian chamber of commerce in Arusha region to cater for these small businesses, so that they have a forum to join the public debate. On Friday November 25th Trias Tanzania was invited by the chamber to participate in a press conference where the TCCIA presented their vision of ‘The Arusha we want’ to the regional and district commissioner, the mayor and the business community.
The whole event was broadcasted on national television. TCCIA wants to provide a forum in which the public sector and the private sector can collaborate. So that if the government engage in building for example a new market or a new road, the business community will be involved in identifying the needs and to give advice on possible solutions. TCCIA presented a dream where Arusha would follow the example of cities and countries like Kigali, Switzerland, Singapore and Maastricht.
Trias Tanzania already supported the TCCIA in the establishment of a TCCIA branch at the border with Kenya at what will become the first one stop border post in East-Africa! This satellite office will facilitate trade between the two countries.
For years TCCIA was quite weak and consequently they lost many members. “Now we see that things have changed and that they are making things happen. Trias Tanzania is ready to support them as much we can”, concludes Casier.