Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE chairman of the Zanzibar National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC), Mr Ali Amour, has encouraged traders and other members of the business community in the Island to use the ‘Mansa platform’ that is becoming a reliable way of reaching large consumers in the East African market.
MANSA is a repository platform which provides a single source of primary data required for the conduct of customer due diligence on African entities; Financial Institutions, Corporate and SMEs.
It is also defined as a portal, which holds information about geography, investment climate of a one-stop place to learn about Africa and investment opportunities in Africa.
Speaking at the inauguration of the platform, organized by the East African Business Council (EABC) at Madinat al Bahri, Mbweni area, Mr Amour said it would help traders and entrepreneurs promote their products as it was easy and ‘cost-effective way to do business with many people and safe from corruption and theft.
“The aim of introducing the portal is to bring together traders and investors who want to do business in the free African market. The platform is digital, involving various information and will help reduce the risk of people looking for uncertified traders,” the Chamber boss said.
He said every business person who wants to join the forum, will be verified by the existing institutions in Zanzibar and East Africa, and the advantage of the Forum is to be able to advertise and promote Zanzibar companies with products, to sell in the region and beyond.
In addition, he said, the other objective was to promote African products as Adrian Njau, Business Advisor from Business Advisory Council for East Africa, said the platform would enable traders or investors to access information.
“The business council will be the one to oversee the various trade organizations or chambers from different countries, where in Zanzibar they will be working with the Zanzibar chamber which will be helping to verify. The main goal is to enable traders to get reliable information from other traders, investors and therefore to have reliable information in doing business,” he said.
Dr Mohamed Hafidh Khalifan- a member of the Zanzibar Chamber of Commerce council, said the launch of the platform will enable entrepreneurs to have the opportunity to advertise their businesses across the African continent instead of advertising in their own country.
He added that it was a great opportunity for Zanzibar to get connected to the platform, which has clearly shown that the EABC values Zanzibar and recognizes Zanzibar’s contribution to business development, “If such opportunities are defined as appropriate for entrepreneurs who need capital and opportunities to exchange their businesses and markets it will benefit many among the existing traders in the country.” The co-founder of the platform, Mr Skudhan Khamis Makame, from the Zanzibar Fruit and Vegetable Growers Union, (UWAMWIMA), said, for their part, they seen it as an opportunity for them as they would be able to market themselves in the East African market, access loans and market advertise.
“It is a good opportunity that we will be able to advertise, where we have also seen the opportunity to get information from our colleagues, where we will be able to announce what we are doing and where we are in partnership with other institutions” he said.
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