Tanzania is endowed with an abundance of natural resources namely minerals, tourism attraction, prime lands for agriculture and estates, forestry, water, energy, horticulture products and others with limited or no utilisation.
These raw materials and numerous resources require appropriate and significant investment to ensure they achieve sustainable develoment goals.
The government under President Samia Suluhu Hassan has on several occasions expressed satisfaction with the substantial investors' overflow in the country.
The Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) has been recording big investment projects worth billions of US dollars, which have contributed to the creation of reasonable employment opportunities.
Despite all the achievements, investment capital and appropriate technologies have not trickled down fast enough to reach the majority of the population, boost industrialisation and modern technologies as well as uplift the economy.
For that reason, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has recommended to Tanzania adopt what is called Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Investors' Map.
According to UNDP Tanzania Resident Representative, Ms Christine Musisi, the SDG Investor Map is a market intelligence that is produced by countries through the support of UNDP and its partners.
The Map seeks to help private investors to identify Investment opportunities in key areas of the economy, where there will be a combination of impact and profit. Towards the end of last month, TIC in collaboration with UNDP organised a special "Tanzania SDGs Investment Forum" in Dar es Salaam with the theme" Invest in Tanzania's sustainable future".
In his speech read on his behalf by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Dr Stergomena Tax, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa thanked UNDP for their continued support in various national projects and for ensuring that Tanzania achieves the SDG goals by the year 2030, adding that the launching of SDG Investor Map would standardise private sector engagement in support of sustainable investments in the country.
"Through this forum, investors and government will be able to access findings and data from SDG Investor Maps. The maps, to be produced locally by UN Country Offices will provide market intelligence, backed by data, which will provide concrete Investment opportunity areas," he said.
According to Aristides Mbwasi, the Director of the Investment Development Division in the Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade, the Investor Map showcase 13 investment opportunity areas.
They are Agriculture, Renewable and Alternative energy, Infrastructure, Education and Services. These are in line with the National Development Plan.
It was elaborated by the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) that the availability of an SDG Investor Map with national priorities provides an opportunity for UNCDF to apply its Investment mandate and expertise as well as its financial instruments such as seed capital grants to complement the work of the government in promoting identified national priorities.
The four-stage process to develop Investor Maps include first defining the national priorities starting point... ... that is to say identifying sectors where there is a demonstrable political and financial commitment, and secondly identifying critical sub- sectors to focus on.
The third aspect is to identify priority sub-regions where there is both high development need and strong political cum financial momentum, and lastly highlight specific investment opportunity areas where new capital can facilitate growth.
The TIC Investment Promotion Manager Innocent Kawa identified six projects which the government was keen to see obtain sufficient funding and partnerships.
The projects include edible and cotton oil processing plants. Mr Kawa stressed that Tanzania has large local demand for edible oil that surpass 500,000 tonnes annually but only 180,000 tonnes are produced locally, forcing importation of about 320,000 tonnes each year.
There was also the need to develop a huge agricultural special economic zone project along the Usa River in the Arusha Region and construct a 100 MW solar power project in the Singida region.
Other projects are building waste recycling and renewable energy projects as over 4.6 million tonnes of solid waste are produced in major towns of Tanzania per year but only 55 per cent is collected giving room to eruptive health hazards.
The last project was the development of new railway networks for Dar es Salaam commuter train services. During the special pitching session profoundly coordinated by facilitator Mr Taji Liundi, several local chief executive officers (CEOs) from private companies briefed the participants on their various businesses and their requirements from financial institutions.
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While the CEO of Kilimo Fresh Foods Africa, Mr Baraka Chijenga urged for financial support to middle and small-scale farmers to expand their market share, the CEO of Ensol Enterprise, Mr Prosper Magali stressed investing in renewable energy such as solar systems badly required in schools, health centres, community buildings, to name a few.
CEOs from Chanzi, Smartcore Limited and Yes Group also spoke in the session requesting urgent financing. The TIC Public Relations and Communication Manager Ms Pendo Gondwe briefed some potential foreign investors on the active role played by TICs One Stop Facilitation Centre which hosts 12 government institutions including TRA, TANESCO, BRELA, TBS, TMDA, OSHA and others.
She elaborated that the threshold for investment capital must be at least 100,000 US dollars for projects owned by local citizens and 500,000 US dollars for projects wholly owned by foreign investors or under a joint venture.
Speaking on behalf of the Ministry during the closing session, Mr Aristides Mbwasi stressed that the government firmly believes Investment is about building both good relationships and trust and thanked UNDP and other stakeholders for attending the forum which he regarded as highly successful.
