A start-up policy that will help innovators to benefit from their creativity and get platform to exhibit their skills is currently being finalized, the Minister for Information, Communication and Information Technology Mr Nape Nnauye has said.
He said in Dar es Salaam on Monday that the Tanzania start-up policy would establish a comprehensive framework that fosters conducive environment for the growth and expansion of startups.
"Due to the lack of good and innovative legal systems, many innovators have been hosted in other countries. This has made the government open its eyes more to see how to help them and have a tool to give guidelines," said Nape when he visited the Tanzania Startups Association (TSA) office in the city.
He said the process of the policy formulation will be completed this year.
"The government is completing the draft and when we complete it, we will bring internal and external stakeholders, including development partners. So I have come to prove to you that the process is safe," Nape said.
Mr Nape asked the TSA and its members to be patient and when they are done they will conduct meetings that will involve the TSA and other stakeholders so that they all go through it together.
"We know that there are developmental partners who are interested in this matter, we are asking them to be patient. When we complete it, we will bring it to them so that later it will go for the formulation of regulations," he said.
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He said there has also been an increase of 15 per cent of startups from last year.
Mr Nape said the innovations were able to attract investment of more than 80 million US dollars.
On his part, the TSA Chief Executive Officer, Zahoro Muhaji said TSA recognise and appreciates the remarkable and continued government support for start-ups.
He said previously start-ups had to pay about 5,000 US dollars per year for licences where now start-ups can freely access important communication resources including the USSD shortcodes, domain and frequencies.
"This translates into a big win for start-ups in the country and encourages innovation.
Available data from TCRA shows that there is an increasing number of beneficiaries and other startups are continuing to apply for mentioned resources.
He said so far TSA has 673 members.
