Tanzanian entrepreneurs are faced with many challenges today:
• Lack of energy, with 87% of the country’s population not connected to the national electricity grid.
• Lack of clean drinking water especially in rural areas, leading to diseases in both people and livestock which are the livelihood of many farmers.
• Lack of irrigation for farms holding them back from growing beyond the subsistence l
evel.
• Lack of access to proper markets for many products leading small farmers to being unable to fully benefit from their products’ revenue potential and hindering the expansion of their operations.
• Limited food processing facilities leading to wastage and lack of food security despite being an agriculture-driven economy as well as outsourcing the most value adding and profit generating activities.
• Lack of management education for entrepreneurs limiting their ability to effectively manage and grow their businesses.
• Lack of long-term affordable credit and financing options for micro-entrepreneurs, which impairs their ability to make necessary investments into their businesses. As the profitability of farming is limited by the above factors, many people especially the young are leaving rural areas for cities such as Dar es Salaam. These cities are ill-equipped to handle the inflow of people with poor infrastructure and limited services to support the new population. The country is stable and personal security is not an issue, allowing entrepreneurs to focus on their businesses. The economy is growing with real GDP growth of over 6% and the government is working on implementing many sound policies such as their National Poverty Reduction Strategy, new Standards Bureau to deal with the issue of unreliable counterfeit products as well as supporting renewable energy technologies. With the country increasingly modernizing, Tanzanian people are looking to improve their situation themselves, which is where African Solar Rise fits in.
