AfricaPress-Tanzania: MBEYA regional authority yesterday handed over five acres to agro processors for constructing 50 small and medium industries.
The five acres were handed over to the Tanzania Food Processors Association of Women Entrepreneurs (Tafopa), the processors of fruits and vegetables.
The industrial reserve area will be used by Kibowavi Project, an association of fruits and vegetable processors supported by a Swiss organisation called Helvetas.
Mbeya Regional Commissioner Albert Chalamila said at the event that as Mbeya residents were grateful to Helvetas for setting aside 1bn/- for setting up industries that would be run by women and youth growers of vegetables and fruits to produce quality products.
“We have witnessed the usefulness of Kibowavi Project. That is why we quickly set aside this land for entrepreneurs to advance the region’s economy and that of the nation,” he said.
The RC was joined by the chairperson of the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF), Ms Angelina Ngalula, who thanked both the regional leadership and Helvetas for supporting the private sector to meet the needs of TPSF entrepreneurs.
“This reserve area will host about 50 agro-processing industries and cold rooms. This means a lot as it will boost the livelihoods of our entrepreneurs,” she said, noting that entrepreneurs would process and package products for local and foreign markets.
The chairperson said the initiative would promote inclusive economy, advance the cause of the private sector and create jobs.
Ms Ngalula said the volume of business produced by entrepreneurs grew every year.
She said small and medium enterprises accounted for one third of Tanzania’s GDP and offered 40 per cent of jobs countrywide.
Tafopa Chairperson Suzy Lazier thanked Mbeya Region for making the project one of its priorities, adding that their association was serious about the implementation of the national industrialisation agenda.
