Tanzania Investment and Consultant Group Ltd

| Economic Research Centre

Expert Insights: Your Compass for Tanzania's Economic Landscape

Uncover expert analyses on Tanzania's economy and the East African business landscape through our Insights section. Stay informed and gain the crucial information you need to make strategic decisions in Tanzania's vibrant market.
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Economists Talk 2023

Although the statistics show that inflation has decreased, but why still the cost of living and the prices of important things such as food, transport, health and communication have been seen to rise higher?

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Economists Talk December 2022

Currently, the cost of living and operational general has increased by 4.9% inflation rates 2022 compared to last year 2021 when it was 4.0% but also last month was 4.8% which is an increase of 0.1% and as an increase of 0.8% from last year 2021.


Basic needs like foods and non-alcoholic beverages, the prices have increased by 9.1% 2022 compared to last month where it was 8.3% and 3.9% for last year 2021. We expect a further increase in the price of foods and non-alcoholic beverages because we are entering the season of Christmas and New Year and the demands of these products expected to increase more.


Products like alcoholic beverages and tobacco prices have dropped by 0.9% 2022 compared to last month where it was 1% and 2.5% for last year 2021. The same goes for products like clothing and footwear costs have dropped by 2.5% this month from 2.6% last month and 4.9% last year. Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, furnishings, household equipment and routine costs have increased by 3.7% 2022 compared to last month. Fuels, electricity, water and gas are the important products that have multiplier effects to all people because everyone will need water and everyone will need electricity, therefore the increase price of these products have very big impact on the individuals economy, family levels up to the national level.

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Consulting in small business management and development

The use of consultants by small enterprises is now an established trend in business. As activities relating to the conduct of business become more complex, the need for outside assistance usually increases. Managers of small- scale enterprises who want to remain competitive need to consider using consultants as they would use other support services, such as bankers, lawyers, accountants and trade associations.

Consultants can play an important role in economic development by assisting people to set up small enterprises. For new entrepreneurs, the start-up phase is the most difficult; consequently, more and more consultants focus on this important aspect of enterprise development. Consultants and small-business development centres often arrange training for entrepreneurs who intend to initiate new enterprises.

Existing small enterprises use consultants mainly to solve specific operational problems. The duration of the consultancy will depend on the specific problem but most consultancies can be accomplished within a few months. Longer consultancies may be required if the problem concerns expanding business operations. Expansion takes time and the consultant may be involved periodically for one or two years.

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Consulting in knowledge management

Managing in the knowledge economy

The competitive position of economies in particular of the highly industrialized countries – is already or will be determined by their capacity to create value through knowledge. This structural change is reflected in theories of endogenous growth, which stress that development of know-how and technological change are the driving forces behind lasting growth. Knowledge is increasingly recognized as the principal source of value generation .  The most recent economic growth comes not just from general advances in knowledge and the state of technology, but also from intangible financial products, entertainment, and computer software. Quah calls this “the weightless economy”, which he defines as not just more and better technology, but a reduction of distance between knowledge production and consumers, removing the intermediaries of traditional intellectual property protection and manufacturing. With fast interactions across countries, international learning processes become faster, and new competitors enter traditional businesses. The newest technologies – computers, the Internet also allow consumers to get closer to knowledge production. The traditional trade- off between reach and richness of interactions between producer and consumer seems to be no longer valid. The newest technologies produce new weightless goods – software, video entertainment, and health and financial consulting services – that can be considered as if they were knowledge. Little sits in the chain between knowledge production and final consumption. As information and communication technologies are the main drivers of this new economy, authors talk about the digital or information economy.

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Economists Talk-November-2022

Currently, Tanzania inflation has reached 4.8% compared to last month where it was 4.6%, within a one year inflation rates has increased by more than 0.8% from 4.0% for 2021.


Foods and Non-alcohol products have contributed to rapid increase in inflation rates, which currently inflation rates hit 8.3% compared to last year's by 4%, with an increase rates of 4.3% (51%).


The demand for food has become higher due to the rapid increase in the number of people in urban areas, most of our urban areas do not produce food, dependence on rural areas where by agriculture productions takes place, which increase the demand for alcohol and non-alcoholic drinks.


Transportation costs have increased by 7.9% compared to last month where it has decreased by 0.2%, compared to last year the costs have increased by 2% from 5.9%. The increase in inflation rate on transport was due to the increase in the price of fuel but currently the situation is stable.

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6 Questions Every First-Time Business Owner Needs to Ask

You've been approached about buying a business. What do you do first?

The demographics tell an exciting story: we're likely to see hundreds of thousands of small owners looking to retire over the next decade. Does the big question then become what will happen to all those companies?

One possibility is that we might see a boom in opportunities for younger people to acquire those businesses. Maybe you even work in a company like this where the owner has already approached you about taking over. While that might seem like a dream come true to finally own your own business--there's also some considerable risk you'll need to evaluate before you go ahead on a transaction.

I've identified a few critical high-level questions any prospective entrepreneur should ask before taking the plunge to buy a business of their own.

1.     Does the business have recurring revenue?

One of the riskiest aspects of any business is the stability of the revenue. That's why one of the first questions you need to ask a seller is how their company earns its revenue. Knowing if the business you want to buy has predictable, recurring revenue streams in place is critically important. 

That might include long-term contracts or a customer base that pays a fixed amount every month. Having these kinds of recurring revenue streams not only makes the business less risky, but it also becomes more valuable if you ever want to sell it yourself. On the other hand, if the business requires you to go out and make a new sale every day, you will be taking on a great deal of risk.

2.     What are the relationships with customers?

Ask a seller what the status of their customers is. Are they happy and likely to continue buying from you? Or, are things messier, where some customers might be at risk of leaving? The other key question to ask is about sales concentration. 

Does the business have 20 to 30 customers representing no more than 10% of company revenue? Or does it have 3 or 4 customers, two of which account for 90% of revenues? The more distributed and secure the customer base is, the better. Otherwise, the business becomes riskier.

 3.     What's the nature of competition in the business?

No business operates in a vacuum. So, it's essential to understand what kind of competitive pressures it's been facing. One area to look closely at is gross margin--the business's revenue minus the cost to deliver service. Is gross margin is growing over time, which means the company has found ways to keep costs under control while raising prices? 

Or, is gross margin eroding, which might indicate rising costs and pressure from competitors and customers to squeeze prices? This could also result if the business is being pressed on price by its biggest customers. Any company that erodes gross profit should be a big red flag. As the old saying goes, nobody wants to catch a falling knife.

4.     Is there a growth engine?

A stable business can be great for an owner who wants a simple lifestyle business. But if you're looking to acquire a company, you'll need to find some levers to help grow the industry to help you pay off the seller over time. Ideally, there are opportunities to grow the business by 5% to 20% a year. That way, you'll be buying an appreciating asset, not one that's stuck at the price you paid for it.

5.     Is the business dependent on the owner?

Many small businesses revolve around their owner or founder. They are the most skilled and vital people in the company, and it's hard to imagine operating without them. This would be another red flag for a potential buyer. 

While you might have a healthy enough ego to believe you could step in and provide those same skills, you should be wary about if the business will transition well to a new owner. That can be an especially tricky scenario if the seller plans to stay inside the company for a while to help the buyer and new owner. 

It's a double-edged sword. While the seller can provide some guidance about how the business had been run, they can also become a dampener to innovation--putting the brakes on any changes the new owner might want to make. 

6.     Is the owner willing to take back financing?

Some new business owners might not be aware that it's common for sellers to provide "seller financing"--meaning they will be paid out over time, maybe five years, through the business's profits. This can often be a win-win for both the seller and buyer: the seller typically can get more for the company while the buyer doesn't have to secure outside financing to make the deal. 

The problem can be if the seller wants their money right away. If that's the case, it becomes a more risky and challenging deal for the buyer because they know they must either come up with a pile of cash or take on debt from a bank to buy the business.

As I said earlier, these six questions are just a high-level primer to help see if the business makes sense to buy or not. It might be wiser to walk away if you see too many red flags. But suppose you get excited by the answers you get. 

In that case, you can then proceed to the next level of due diligence, where you could begin to dig more deeply into areas like bad debts, the quality of inventory, the maintenance history of the equipment, etc.

Just remember that while it's exciting to think about finally becoming your own boss, make sure you take the time to ask the right questions before leaping to ensure you're buying a Cadillac and not a lemon.

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Y0uth employment and economic perspective

The study focus on looking on youth employment along with their entire economic situation but also the study advising what the government and other organizations should do to help youth and free them from all life challenges including youth employment and the entire economic situation they face.


The findings of the research show that many young people are still unmarried by 91% of the youth interviewed even though a few are married by 5%, but also many young people have been seen living in families with people less than 3 family members, but also within those families it has shown that there is almost equal depending ration between people who work for salary or wage and people with no work or job but are actively looking for a jobs.


Many young people have shown that they have completed their first degree education from the first enrollment of 466,985 students by more than 91% and 9% of them have completed their first and make a total of more than 54,799 (11%) of all graduate where by 38,111 graduate first degree each year and 302 graduate second degree. Youth goals many of them respond at the moment are making a contribution to society, but many also wish to be more successful than where they are now. Many young people currently like to work in private organizations, but also in multinational corporations, and some would like to be self-employed by starting their own business as shown in the study below.

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How to Become an Entrepreneur

10 Steps and Tips for Success

You’ve heard this buzzword “entrepreneur” thrown around from the startup world to overhearing one of your distant cousin’s latest career bends. It sparked your curiosity enough to land on this article and give it a try for yourself, but do you really know what being an entrepreneur is all about?

An entrepreneur is someone who understands the big risk and yet still takes the initiative to turn their unique idea into a reality. This kind of person isn’t looking for a comfortable, stressless lifestyle. They are willing to take on a major life change, and one that won’t be easy. It will be exciting though, as there are many twists and turns that no rollercoaster ride can compare to.

If you have butterflies in your stomach when hearing this - and in a good way - keep on reading to learn how to become an entrepreneur, from coming up with an idea to creating a website in order to promote it and more.

How to become an entrepreneur

The following ten steps can be used as your personal checklist for setting yourself up for success. From being in the right headspace to creating value behind your business idea, here’s how to become an entrepreneur:

Decide if it’s the right fit for you

Choose an idea and educate yourself

Find your target audience

Plan and launch your business

Hire great partner(s)

Build your network

Test your idea

Plan your finances

Develop a strong brand

Create value in your market

01. Decide if it’s the right fit for you

Beyond this topic being the latest trend, the reality of being an entrepreneur is not necessarily swimming in a pool of cash or enjoying a surplus demand for your products and services. However, some of these known entrepreneurial perks are actually quite true, such as taking on a very high risk for hopefully equally as high of a reward, and running your career independently.

Considering you own priorities and personality type, see if these entrepreneurial skills resonate with you:

You are passionate about your idea and motivated to see it through.

You’re realistic and have a good idea about whether or not a business concept will be profitable.

You’re confident and fearless no matter what opinions others may have.

You’re resilient when it comes to your business and your personal emotions associated with it.

If you’re not quite ready to follow through with your plan, take it slow. There is no rush when it comes to completely changing your lifestyle. Instead, start with adjusting a tiny part of it at a time with one of these successful habits. Then, when the time is right, you can come right back and pick up at step number two - we’ll be waiting for you!

02. Choose an idea and educate yourself

When trying to understand how to start a business, choosing an idea for your new venture is all about setting yourself apart from others. Even if you decide to do something as straightforward as opening up a restaurant, it’s important to have your own twist on the concept. For example, you could call your business ‘Spice Street’ and offer the largest variety of hot sauces out of all of the other restaurants in town. You can always use this handy business name generator to get your creative juices flowing.

On top of finding your competitive edge, think about what it is that you really love doing. What passions in life are you able to focus on without feeling like you’re putting in the effort? Or another way of looking at it, what problems are you passionate - or nearly feel obligated - to solve. Such as, replacing the use of plastic straws with one built right into the cup (we’ll leave the creativity up to you here). Sticking to what you love, what you know best, and what you feel the world needs, is a recipe for success and the key to great entrepreneurship.

And of course, twist these practical ideas into something unthought of by blending in your own originality. Beyond just being passionate or determined, it’s always necessary to educate yourself on the topic more. This could mean going back to school to get a degree, or just doing some Internet research by turning to one of your favorite blog’s guides.

03. Find your target audience

Although an idea can sound genius in your head, before you pat yourself on the back, make sure that others are willing to pay for it. In fact, a big reason businesses fail is because there is no market need.

Taking some time to picture who your audience is will allow you to see the potential for profit. In addition, you will also be able to understand your clientele’s needs when it comes to marketing to them and providing them with what they are looking for in the best way possible.

Later on in the article we will speak about testing your idea and creating value. For now, you should just start to list out the characteristics that define your target audience by performing market research. What age range do they fall in? What are their hobbies? Where are they located? And so on.

04. Plan and launch your business

Take this step slowly, because there are many components to it. Becoming a small business owner requires a lot of planning, and launching your business involves everything from pick a type of entrepreneurship, building your concept and understanding it to actually turning your idea into a reality.

First you’ll want to get started with an organized business plan. Creating this extensive document allows you to walk through all of the core components of your idea as in-depth as necessary, from your mission statement to your marketing and operations plan and more. Writing these down enables you to visualize your goals and understand how you plan on carrying them out.

Another very important document that functions both on its own and together with your business plan is your executive summary. When looking for partners, requesting funding, and giving a brief overview of your business, this report is absolutely essential.

After you’ve completed those documents, you might want to step away from this article to turn to a more technical resource filled with all of the administrative knowledge you need to do for your biz.

05. Hire great partner(s)

Now that all of the administrative parts are behind you, you can get right back to business. However, it’s advised that you don’t do this alone. Flying solo is great, but having a partner to support you will help you see different challenges and opportunities that you might miss alone. Starting your own business can get lonely at times too. It’s nice to have a companion that completely understands first-hand what you’re going through on a day-to-day basis.

Did we convince you yet? If so, start thinking of the qualities you would like from a partner, and the people you know who possess them. Have a semi-planned speech when you reach out to your chosen potential partner to propose your idea of working together. And already having created your business plan will show them just how serious you are.

Beyond having a partner, it’s a great time to start thinking about the qualities you would look for in an entire team. This is known as company culture and it encompasses the entire personality and identity of the humans who make up your business. Even if you aren’t hiring them just yet, it’s still important to have these qualities in mind for when you do.

Such foresight will ensure that everyone on your team is focused on the same visions and gets along with each other personally and professionally. A fluid and in-sync company culture can determine whether or not your business is successful, so don’t underestimate its importance.

06. Build your network

Your team or partner offers a great support system, but you could use all of the help you can get, especially at this stage in your business. Mentors and other professionals who can provide you with value and guidance will always be worthwhile connections to have. This is especially true for working with them one-on-one, as it will provide you with more focused help.

The world of business is not a solitary journey, even if you choose to not have partners. Having people you can reach out to for things you simply don’t know yourself will help you understand your market better, and avoid missing opportunities or making costly mistakes. In this field you’re always learning, and one of the best ways to do so is through the help of experts.

You can certainly attend as many networking events, speaker series, fairs and expos as possible and relevant for you. On top of those, you can impress others in your industry by hosting your own networking events or creating an online forum community.

07. Test your idea

A trial period is important for gaging the interest around your product or service, and seeing where you can make improvements. In fact, you should treat this stage as if it’s the first step in selling your idea.

It’s an opportunity for you to begin engaging with your potential customers and get a first hand experience understanding how you can best serve them with your offerings. Getting their feedback here and taking it seriously is crucial to your success.

There are many ways to do so, whether that’s sending out samples, hosting focus groups, or working with individuals one-on-one. Figure out what best serves your product or service. For example, if you are selling something expensive, free samples will not be in your best financial interest. However, keep in mind that the more ways you can get your idea out into the hands of consumers, the more able you’ll be to build on your concept and create brand awareness.

08. Plan your finances

This might not be the most exciting step, but it is mandatory. Therefore, it’s a good idea to just dive into it focused and get it checked off your list in as timely of a manner as possible.

Begin by taking a look into the scope of your financials. How much do you need to support your business? Run through the costs of materials and production, supplies, hiring employees, promotion, office space, etc. Remember that you are new and you’re also potentially going to need to request the help of others, so make sure to keep your expenses as low as possible.

Once you have a good idea of how much funding you’ll need, check in with your own financial situation. How much of this are you able to sustain by yourself? Even if you do reach out to investors for help, showing that you personally took on the risk will not only impress them and make them more willing to support you, but will also help your own motivation by having skin in the game.

Once you have the funds, immediately open up a bank account. On top of emphasizing that serious mindset, it might also be mandatory that this account is separate from your personal one (depending on the business structure you file for). And also, once profits start coming in and expenses start coming out, you’ll be able to track everything in order to fulfill your small business accounting needs.

09. Develop a strong brand

The way that a vibrant green and black distinguish Spotify from its competitors or how Dove prides itself on promoting real women, a brand identity is present in both the most subtle and the most apparent ways.

Verbally, it’s comprised of your core values, language, employees, and customers. Aesthetically it involves your brand colors, font choices, logo and more. When used consistently and over time, these different components generate recognition and build trust amongst customers.

Implement your brand identity across all channels and assets related to your brand. First and foremost: your business website. When you make a website, you’re building an online home for your brand. This is what customers mainly associate with you, and therefore you want to represent yourself on here in the best light. Whether you will offer bookings or an eCommerce store, or simply want to use this as a gate to direct customers to your brick and mortar shop via local SEO, you’re going to want to build it to the best of your abilities. That doesn’t mean you necessarily need to spend the money hiring a professional website designer though. Instead, you can explore this large array of fully customizable website templates for getting started. You can also use this business card maker to create one-of-a-kind cards that showcase your brand identity.

10. Create value in your market

Now that you have the right funnels for promotion between your website and social media accounts, and you’ve taken the time to test your idea - you’re ready to sell it.

For that to happen, you need to create value behind it. Give your customers a reason to choose you. This can include developing thought leadership, which you can do by routinely publishing fresh content relevant to your industry.

Use the power of social media and your website to raise your voice and allow more people to hear you. Target them through catchy social posts, create a blog for sharing great content, and send out a beautiful newsletter and throw in some coupons.

In-person promotion shouldn’t be undermined for the strength it has too. You can give speeches and promote through word-of-mouth. If you’re going this route, you’ll want to fine-tune your elevator pitch to get your point across in as few words as possible.

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Tanzania economic performance outlook 2022-2023

Mobile sector in Tanzania is the leading sectors with heavily taxes, operator’s subjected to more than 10 different taxes plus regulatory fees and charges. Leads operation cost becoming higher every day, this including the cost of MOBILE DATA purchases.

Currently it is difficult to prevent the use of mobile data and use of mobile data increasing every day. Most of us we use mobile data for business purpose to earn income, but also for students they use mobile data and internet for self-study.

 Mobile sectors company are the only corporate company in Tanzania that has more than 53 million subscribers, compare to currently Tanzania population which is approximately to reach more than 64 million.

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Doing Business in Tanzania-2022/2023

Let's look at the way of doing business in Tanzania by focusing on the following things, How to start a business, relations between the government and businessmen, relations between local investors and how the government can protect them, doing business at our borders, how to pay taxes through our businesses, how to hire workers for our business or investment but also how to get permits to run our businesses including contracts, electricity and obtaining permits for other construction activities in the business area.

Finally we will look at how to get loans for all small, medium and large businessmen as well as investments. This research is focused on gathering information about 29 areas or districts but we have also tried to check and take at least a few districts for each zone to be able to get the opinion of each area of Tanzania.

General, if you look at the current state of doing business in Tanzania, it is not good based on the criteria mentioned above and by analyzing one by one criteria and its overall situation. if we start talking about a few things like how to start a business in Tanzania while it goes hand in hand with paying taxes, many businesses in Tanzania start on the day that you have already taken a TIN from TRA, then that is the same day that you start being counted as a taxpayer and you have to pay taxes, something that for business which are starting at least should be given a certain limit until they reach a certain condition before they start paying taxes, our past reports especially this one to look at the opportunities and obstacles facing our businesses include this one to start collecting taxes only when the business is registered with TRA.

75% of the businesses that are established every year end up dying due to environmental reasons including the way of tax payment. Taxes are the economy, but business is also the economy, so the more businesses there are, the more stable the country's economy is, but it also leads to the simplification and increase in the circulation of money.

The methodology adopted in this study is mixed approach where by both qualitative and quantitative data were collected, for a qualitative study, in depth interview with key informants were conducted. The results found from a qualitative suggested that there should be Doing Business.

Furthermore, for the quantitative study a survey questionnaire was employed, and data analyzed by STATA and SPSS. The quantitative also found significant direct and positive effects on doing business in Tanzania for both on attracting domestics and foreign investors and small business growth.

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