Addressing women entrepreneurs at the launch of Five Year Strategic Plan 2023/28 by Tanzania Saccos for Women Entrepreneurs (TASWE) Foundation in Dar es Salaam yesterday, Angelina Ngalula Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) also challenged entrepreneurs to be innovative with their products alongside going digital for promotion.
“The days of producing quality products and expecting customers rushing for it are gone. We are living in the era that needs both quality, innovation and promotion for a product to be a hotcake on the market,” said Ngalula.
Ngalula who also doubles as East African Business Council (EABC) Chairperson, challenged TASWE to organize SMEs educational programmes for business scale up techniques and approaches. However, TASWE was challenged to educate SMEs on how they can benefit with big markets like the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
“SMEs need to understand what it takes to benefit from these markets. They need to be told how they can get their products sold at these markets in terms of logistics, marketing and coordination,” said Ngalula.
She urged business women to be consistent with what they do instead of moving from one business to another if they really want to be established in the eyes of consumers.
TASWE Executive Director Anna Matinde said that the strategic plan focuses on women economic empowerment, women health literacy and support and institutional capacity strengthening.
The plan targets at educating women entrepreneurs on how to be innovative in business, networking approaches, product’s branding and resource mobilization.
“TASWE will work hand in hand with development partners from within and outside the country. It targets investing in income generation activities and leverages our partnership with donors and the government,” said Matinde.
With the new launched strategy, TASWE targets at reaching 5,000 women entrepreneurs with entrepreneur aids every year.
According to her, TASWE was established in 2014 as a women saccos entity. In February this year it was split into a succos and a Foundation. The foundation focuses on women empowerment projects while the saccos will remain as a lender.
She asserted that the foundation has 600 active members countrywide. However, during the eight years of its existence, over 20,000 women have been reached countrywide with entrepreneurship education and loans.
The organizations work to realize its mission of empowering women and youth by enhancing health literacy, ending poverty and promoting economic growth. Its vision is the realization of a world in which all women have pathways to health and opportunities.
