Miss Sabasaba? You just miss the future

TANZANIA: THERE is a common joke: if you have not been to Sabasaba, can you even call yourself a Tanzanian? But let us not reduce it to just jokes and souvenirs. Sabasaba- officially the Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair, is not just a place where school kids go to eat ice cream and lose their classmates. Every year, it is a power-packed, brain-boosting, business-building festival of ideas, skills and global opportunities.

Here, skills are on sale (free actually). To be precise, at Sabasaba, learning happens in the most unusual corners. Want to learn how to make soap, install solar panels, run an online business, or create leather products? It is all there. Exhibitors from tech companies to handmade craftspeople, are not just there to sell, but to show and tell. Watching a machine turn cassava into crisps in under 5 seconds is not only entertaining, it is inspiring. Imagine what you could do with that knowledge in your village or street corner?

You might walk in for a key holder and walk out with a business partner from Turkey, China, you name them. International and regional investors attend Sabasaba, not to sit pretty in suits, but to talk real business. Tanzanians, this is your chance! From cooperative partnerships in agriculture, textiles, construction and Information, Communication and Technology (ICT), this is where connections are made and deals are born.

You have had that business idea for three years. Still “planning”? Stop it. Go to Sabasaba and see what others are doing. Talk. Ask questions. Share your vision. You will be surprised how fast things move when ideas are spoken out loud in a place full of doers. Many successful Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Tanzania today had their spark at Sabasaba. This fair is not just for buyers; it is for believers.

Let us also talk about its economic value beyond the pavilions erected there. The ripple effect of Sabasaba is felt beyond the fairgrounds. Transport, hospitality, food vendors, printing businesses and in a nutshell, everyone benefits. When we attend in numbers, we support more than exhibitors and we fuel a chain of economic activity. Not to mention, many local innovators get discovered right here and scale up with support from foreign investors impressed by Tanzanian ingenuity.

It is usually, spiced by music, there is food and there are those hilarious inventions that make you wonder “Who thought of this?” and then you buy one anyway. So why not learn, laugh and launch a new chapter of your career in one sunny, inspiring day?

SABASABA: Technological, innovative products heighten the 49th Sabasaba Fair

Don’t say “next year”. We Tanzanians love saying “Next year, nitajipanga.” But guess what? The world is moving. Skill acquisition is not a luxury; it is a survival tool. Sabasaba is happening now, not in theory, not in a dream, but in Dar es Salaam, on real Tanzanian soil.

So, wear your walking shoes, carry a notebook (and maybe a reusable shopping bag) and walk into the future. Let us meet where ideas meet opportunity and that is Sabasaba!