How data could rewrite Tanzania’s investment narrative

FOR years, the country’s investment pitch has sounded familiar, a stable country, rich in resources, with one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies. We highlight our gas reserves, gold, fertile land and a young population of over 61 million. But investors don’t just chase natural wealth.

They chase clarity, predictability and opportunity measured in numbers. And that is where the country’s story still feels incomplete. Investment thrives on credible data. In Singapore, investors track shipping flows in real time. In Rwanda, reforms are backed with digital dashboards.

In Kenya, fintech attracts billions because usage data is transparent. Tanzania has the same potential, but too often our narrative is built on slogans instead of the sharp data serious capital demands. Consider foreign direct investment.

UNCTAD reports that Tanzania attracted about 1.3 billion US dollars in FDI inflows in 2023, up from 1.1 billion US dollars in 2022. But Kenya pulled in 2.5 billion US dollars and Ethiopia 3.3 billion US dollars. Tanzania’s economy is not much smaller than Kenya’s, yet investors put in twice as much there.

Why? Because they can model Nairobi’s housing demand or track fintech revenues with ease. In Tanzania, investors complain about scattered numbers, inaccessible reports, or inconsistencies across agencies. This lack of visibility has a cost.

A European bank considering loans to agribusiness players will ask: what is the average maize yield by region?

How does rainfall affect output? How many farms are mechanised? If the answers are missing or outdated, loan pricing rises to reflect the risk. Capital becomes more expensive for Tanzanian firms, not because the potential isn’t there, but because the data isn’t. Ironically, much of the data exists.

Mobile operators know how people spend. Banks hold consumer transaction insights. Logistics firms track cargo movement daily.

Even government agencies collect statistics, but often release them in annual PDFs that investors can’t analyse. Put together, Tanzania is sitting on a goldmine of information that, if organised and opened, could transform its investment image. Agriculture illustrates the point.

The Tanzania Bureau of Statistics says the sector employs 65 Per cent of the population and contributes about 26 per cent to GDP. But averages don’t excite investors.

They want to know how avocado exports in Iringa are growing, or how irrigation in Kilombero is expanding. If Tanzania could show regional dashboards on yields, fertiliser use and export growth, global agritech firms would not be making blind bets.

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They would see opportunities in numbers. The same applies to energy. Tanzania’s installed capacity stood at around 1,900 MW in 2024, with the Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project set to raise it. But for a manufacturer choosing between Tanzania and Vietnam, the headline is not enough.

They need data on downtime by region, grid expansion speed and solar adoption trends. Without it, even our biggest projects risk being undervalued. Or take mobile money. Transactions surpassed 300tri/- in 2023, according to the Bank of Tanzania. Impressive, but that figure is a headline. Investors want to know how much is savings, how much is business-to-business, which regions dominate growth.

If breakdowns were consistently available, Tanzania could attract more fintech investment because adoption would be measurable, not assumed. Better data doesn’t just bring foreign capital. It also helps Tanzanian entrepreneurs at home.

SMEs contribute 27 per cent of GDP and 95 per cent of business registrations, yet many struggle to secure financing.

Banks claim they cannot assess risk. A national SME database linking tax filings, mobile payments and sectoral benchmarks would change that. Credit could be priced on real performance, not guesswork, making finance cheaper and growth stronger.

But data without credibility is dangerous. Investors won’t trust numbers if they suspect political editing. That’s why strengthening the independence of the Tanzania Bureau of Statistics is not just technical, it’s economic. Transparent, frequent and reliable releases give investors confidence that they are not walking blind.

The world’s capital market is moving fast. Hedge funds monitor ports through satellites. VCs track app downloads before funding startups. Development banks use climate models before financing farms. If Tanzania keeps selling itself only with broad phrases like “youthful population” and “strategic location,” we will keep attracting less than we deserve.

The good news is progress has begun. Under the Digital Economy Framework, agencies are opening more datasets. Startups are digitising supply chains, especially in agriculture.

Telecom operators publish detailed quarterly reports. If these efforts were standardised and promoted as part of Tanzania’s investment pitch, the narrative would shift quickly. Investors don’t need Tanzania to be flawless.

They just need predictability. They want to know not just that GDP grew by 5.1 per cent in 2023, but which sectors drove it and whether it’s sustainable. They want to see how inflation, which averaged 3.5 per cent, affects spending by income group of which we have been monitoring for a while.

They want both the risks and the rewards quantified. In the end, Tanzania’s investment future will not be written in slogans. It will be written in the quality of our data, how open it is, how credible it is and how well it tells the truth about opportunities. If we can turn raw numbers into a narrative of clarity and confidence, Tanzania will not just be part of Africa’s investment conversation, it will lead it.