GS1, USAID plan to register 2500 SME barcode

GS1 Tanzania and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to accelerate awareness and use of barcodes for SMEs.

The MoU will be implemented through the USAID—Feed the Future Tanzania Kilimo Tija Activity in four regions in mainland— Morogoro, Mbeya, Njombe, Iringa—and Zanzibar.

Feed the Future, Senior Grants Specialist, Mr Pius Tizeba, said on Wednesday the programme intended to boost their well-being by not only acquiring barcodes but also accessing markets, improving the quality and package of their products for at least 2500 entrepreneurs in the next four years.

“The idea is to improve their productivity well-being and grow by at least 15 per cent from the current stage,” Mr Tizeba said at the sideline of the 12th GS1 Tanzania Annual General Meeting (AGM).

The MoU, additionally, comprises linking the SMEs and other stakeholders such as financial institutions, business consultants and chambers, and insurers.

During the AGM, GS1 also signed MoU with Zanzibar National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) and Y9 Microfinance Tanzania Limited to facilitate Business to Business (B2B) meetings and all other stakeholders in the value chain.

The signing of the MoU compelled Zanzibar’s Minister for Trade and Industrial Development Mr Omar Said Shaaban to advise businesses including SMEs to maximise the use of barcodes to identify products produced not only at the domestic but also international level.

“Once again producers in this country use barcode and follow the rules of proper packaging and identification marks,” said Mr Shaaban who was the chief guest at the AGM.

Barcodes help to mitigate product fraud in the market while protecting the standard and the quality and the nature of a particular good.

“The brand of Zanzibar clove globally is big,” Mr Shaaban said, “however, many clove labelled as coming from Zanzibar, in reality, are not ours….[Thus] the use of barcode eliminate this challenge.”

The country barcodes is (# 620).

He said that using barcodes will also help the government to identify the number of products, place them on the world map and know what kind of products and volume the country exports to simplify traceability.

Furthermore, the Minister said that the Small and Medium Enterprises Development and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) received machines to assist entrepreneurs with packaging material to compete in the market as well.

GS1 Tanzania Chief Executive Officer Ms Fatuma Kange urged small-scale entrepreneurs to register with the GS1 system so that their products can be sold internationally.

Ms Kange said the use of barcodes brought about a positive revolution for business people in the country, especially for industrialists.