SOME 100 participants representing start-ups SMEs met on Thursday to exchange and network focusing on finance, investment and industrialisation towards the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The SMEs met in Dar es Salaam under the auspicious of Accelerate Africa (AA), a Pan-Africa economic think tank focusing on unleashing the continent’s growth.
AA Continental Coordinator Gilbert Ewehmeh said in Dar es Salaam yesterday that they use the occasion to also launch the AA Tanzania which went hand in hand with the first start-up SMEs meeting.
“Our model is to create a sustainable business focusing on industrialisation for poverty alleviation and sustainable economies,” Mr Ewehmeh told reporters.
He said the network was focusing more on Africa as the challenges are almost similar and it was high time for members to take advantage of the AfCFTA.
“We have to start with SMEs as most of them are still in their comfort zone and are not aware of the many business opportunities,” he noted.
The AA Country Coordinator, Ms Pendo Lema, said the new move would assist SMEs and start-ups to grab available opportunities and get a clear understanding of current developments in the business world.
“We have the Accelerate Africa Summit coming up in June and all countries will be required to select representatives to the summit through a competitive process and only three will be picked to represent Tanzania,” she said.
The network also plans to start a programme dubbed ‘Operation 100 entrepreneurs training’, which will help the beneficiaries to access funding and the aim is for each country to get financial supporters.
The countries that form Accelerate Africa include Botswana, Cameroon, Malawi, Ghana, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
The network has already been officially launched in Cameroon and Rwanda and now Tanzania joined the list.
