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Chair's Message

ACCESS! TANZANIA

CHAIRMAN'S NOTE:

ACCESS! Tanzania is hosted by Small Industries Development Organisation (SIDO) through its unit known as Women Entrepreneurship Development (WED) 

The 5 year strategy of ACCESS! Tanzania(2005-2009) is aiming at bringing relief to the Tanzanian women entrepreneurs by addressing  typical constraints faced by women along the path of exporting. Tanzania development vision 2025, Poverty reduction strategy Paper, SME development policy and the National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty have set goals to eradicate absolutely poverty by the year 2025, and reduce it by half by year 2010.It is for the same reasons that women in Tanzania are encouraged to undertake income generating activities and are slowly  gaining confidence and produce a number of products –including handicrafts, textiles, carvings, processed foods and many more which have already reached the global market or are striving to do so.The first 2 years ITC/TFOC financed the ACCESS! activities and in July 2007 to February 2008 Proinvest,a programme of European Union funded a project targeting  Tanzania,Uganda and Ethiopia.

ACCESS COMPONENTS

Exporter’s training:

The training is designed in such a way that women get practically involved in understanding the international market concepts and steps to undertake to reach there. Export diagnosis is carried out in the first day of the training so as to extablsih the export readiness of businesse/individuals. Other issues covered include export strategy and planning, packaging and labeling, negotiating skills, prompting customers, export documentation, financing and getting paid. For Tanzania, the five days training are carried out in different zones/regions  using the 8 ACCESS! trainers trained in June 2005 by ITC/TFOC.In 2007 with assistance from Proinvest programme under EU 8 more trainers were certified so as to make a total  number of ACCESS! trainers in Tanzania 16.  

It is our expectations that Tanzania women entrepreneurs will work with ACCESS! Focal Point directly or through their associations, like TANCRAFT,TAFOPA, TAWOMA, HOT, AWAN and the now the Tanzania  Women Chamber of Commerce to achieve the intended objectives.

A mentorship:

After acquiring the training,entrepreneurs are guided by mentors to put down their export strategies. Mentors are people with integrity and experience in exports and are ready to offer services to the young exporters as need arises .

 Web portal:

Through Web Portal women entrepreneurs are facilitated with relevant export information, tools and service. This is an opportunity to promote their company capabilities and business information on line. The web portal is found under www.womenexporters.com/africa/Tanzania.

ACCESS! Tanzania is run with assistance from a Steering Committee, which sits once in every quarter to guide on the implementation of the project.

ACHIEVEMENTS TODATE :

• 160 entrepreneurs have been trained on export marketing in a total of eight  courses in Dar es Salaam (5), Mwanza(1) and Arusha (2). 

•  The original English ITC training materials comprising 22 manuals have been translated into Swahili and adapted to local situation.

• A women Chamber of Commerce has been established and registered to link women exporters
• Some trained entrepreneurs who have for quiet some time exporting without knowledge on the field; express their gratitude for having attended this eye-opening, well-structured ACCESS! Courses.
• Success made through Proinvest project include: 
    §         62 exporters received basic and advance exporters training using ITC developed modules
    §         53 participants mentored through full mentoring cycle of 8 hours each 
    §         62 participants undertook export diagnostic assessments 
    §         50 enterprises profiled on the web portal  
    §         Increased web portal access by ex-trainees 
    §         Local content frequently posted to web portal 
    §         4 awards presented to women exporters in 2 different categories 
    §         Success stories profiled on web portal 
    §         High visibility with national minister as Guest of Honour 
    §         Press coverage in local papers and televisions  
    §        Improved export readiness and competitiveness among women entrepreneurs  
    §         Installation of systems within enterprises e.g. financial/accounting systems, inventory    
               tracking systems etc. 
    §         Development of marketing materials including websites, marketing materials etc. 
    §         A selected number of potential exporters can report market penetration in international   
                markets  e.g. exporters of batiks /house furnishing  from penetrating the (through   
                Macy’s ). 
    §         Web portal has    opened doors for fish exports to Singapore and Thailand  

   A NOTE FROM ACCESS! FOCAL POINT COORDINATOR :

It is estimated that there are about 1.154 million women entrepreneurs operating in different sectors at micro, small and medium scale levels. However products originating from these enterprises are still segmented in the local and a few regional markets. Since Tanzania can not stay away from the globalisation it is pertinent that these enterprises think global and act globally. ACCESS! Tanzania is a way for achieving this and women entrepreneurs who have been in business for some years are urged to use the this rare opportunity.

Tips for export readiness!!

Local market presence, although marketing experience gained locally is not always pertinent to international markets, companies with a local market presence are likely to be in a better position to adapt to the demands of international markets.

Financial demands, marketing internationally requires additional funding in order to carry out activities such as; market research, in-market visits, trade fair participation, dispatching of samples and setting up distribution channels.

Capacity, your company should be in a position to supply your local market and still have additional capacity to supply international markets.

Technical expertise, it is important that your company is in a position to develop the necessary technical capabilities in order to adapt your products to meet international technical requirements.

Management’s commitment, exporting requires additional resources in the form of time, capital, technical expertise, understanding the export process and most importantly total commitment to the export endeavour.

Product readiness, product benefits in the local market can be transferred to the export market. If your products are selling well in the local market, are competitively priced, have a current design and are appealing to a selected market segment, you products are most likely to succeed internationally.

Women of Tanzania with such qualities should not shy away but contact SIDO offices found  in all the regions of Tanzania for more information and registration for different ACCESS! programs.

Steering Committee

Trainers

ACCESS! Trainers in Tanzania