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Mengi: Commitment essential component in entrepreneurship

2008-03-18 09:42:39
By Judica Tarimo


IPP Executive Chairman Reginald Mengi said yesterday that commitment was an essential component to progressive and successful development of entrepreneurship sector in the country in particular and Africa in general.

Mengi said this during an audience with 15 US students pursing Masters Degree in Business Management from New York`s Pace University.

The students had paid him a courtesy call at the IPP headquarters in Dar es Salaam to get first-hand information and techniques regarding the secrets behind his success in business.

``Commitment and competence are crucial elements to observe in the course of selecting employees in your business, but commitment should be the first criteria...selection needs to be conducted in that order,`` said Mengi.

``It`s possible to improve work efficiency to the required standards of employees who are committed.

Academically competent people, who are not committed, have some problems. Sometimes they might cheat you,`` he added.

He urged the students to be risk-takers and shun fear, insisting that successful entrepreneurs should always be ready to take risks.

Mengi described fear as the biggest enemy that had slowed down anticipated growth and development of aggressive entrepreneurs in the country and other parts of the continent.

``You should be ready to abandon that enemy (fear)…try to be aggressive and embark on business ventures without fear. Many people have failed to join the entrepreneurship sector because of fear. Go to the business…start a small project and gradually you will grow and become large-scale entrepreneurs,`` he advised.

The Executive Chairman advised the students to treat business problems as challenges, noting that problems always lay on one`s shoulder and put him or her down.

``But challenges cannot stay on your shoulders…if you look at problems as challenges and part of business life, obviously you could easily face and find appropriate means to overcome them. Ups and downs are always there, but treat them as challenges,`` said Mengi.

Mengi, who is also Chairman of the Confederation of Tanzania Industries (CTI), said personal confidence and knowing destinations were important features in any successful business operations.

``Be confident in what you are doing, and have destination. If you have destination, you can easily work out your business plan. If you don`t know the destination, you will end up confused,`` he noted.

Speaking at the occasion, former Tanzanian Ambassador to the US Daudi Mwakawago said the students had come to explore and study business and investment opportunities as well as potentials and other related operations in the country.

``They heard of the fast-economic growth and developments in our country and they are interested to know the forces behind these developments and how they can explore the potentials,`` he said, adding:

``But such tours are useful to our country because of several reasons. They help in publicising the country`s potentials to the outside world.

You never know, they may come back (in future) to Tanzania as experts or investors and even foreign consultants,`` said Mwakawago.

* SOURCE: Guardian

Mikumi State Park

Today I completed the last and most awaited adventure in Tanzania, the safari at Mikumi State Park. It was so serene and peaceful. When you think about business, you usually think about development and concrete and you forget about the environment. This brought that thought to the forefront of my mind. I've never seen something this beautiful. We saw impala's, zebras, baboons, lions, elephants, water buffalo, warthogs and wildebeest.



Posted by rich! =0) i miss melissa lopez.

Photos of the trip

In 4 hours, we are on our way to the Mikumi National Park for a Safari. It takes about 5 hours to get there. We don't have internet access so I thought I'd post ALL my photos up so everyone can see. I will edit them and write captions when I am in Dubai. The photos might be repetitious but enjoy anyway!



I am sitting in my hotel room with some of the girls right now and we are very excited to go to the Safari and stay over night.

Btw, I wanted to just say thank you to everyone involved in making this trip happen. I don't think I ever thought about going to visit Africa or travel to a country and meet so many important people who are interested in learning how I can help them. It was an amazing experience. I feel privileged to have had this opportunity and I am looking forward to having a couple of brainstorming sessions with my group partner (A'lynne) so we can discuss our business plans idea.

I will definitely recommend everyone I know to visit Tanzania because this country definitely has a lot to offer. I will have to return and visit Mt. Kilimanjaro and Arusha Park.

Goodbye for now. I will write again once I return from the Safari.

Tanzania's Social Action Fund

Today was our last day of formal meetings. It was really enlightening. We had the opportunity to meet with the Tanzania Social Action Fund. The fund is an instrument instituted by the Government to empower communities, facilitate their participation in planning and implementation of interventions that would improve their livelihood. The fund is sustained by money from the IDA, Tanzania government and the Community. Income generation activities come from Vulnerable groups like the elderly, widows,orphans, unemployed youth, people with disabilities, people living with HIV/AIDS and single mothers.

We also visited two job sites. One for women living with HIV who were making and selling sweaters and the other was at a poultry farm where women and men who have HIV work to help themselves live at or above the poverty line. It was pretty sad seeing them all working and attempting to do something for their families while knowing that they had a deadly disease. They were very inspirational in regards to the fact that they wanted to work hard to sustain their families. We saw the young children of these people who might or might not have AIDS and I wondered how their life was when we weren't around. At both sites, we were told that many of the workers were sick and couldn't come in that day.


When we returned on the bus, many of us were talking about how we really wanted to get involved with one of these groups and help them. I am sure we can help them with their marketing, obtaining new supplies and equipment, and looking at various money making ideas that they have possibly not thought of. I'd like to see the future Pace students who attend this field study trip work directly with the underprivileged groups.

Looks like the rain is coming!

We came to Tanzania in the beginning of the rain season yet it hasn't begun raining yet. Today we felt some drizzle. I hope it can hold off until after our safari on Friday and Saturday.

Today's presentation at the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Marketing was the ebst we have had so far. All the speakers were engaging and well infomed. the work being done at the ministry exemplifies the fact that this country has all the tools to emerge into becoming a player in the global economy. they covered everything we had been discussing at the other meetings and had ideas and/or policies already created to solve the problems of the country. The ministry understands that business rules and regulations need to be simplified, a good legal framework should be implemented, infrastructure issues need to be addressed and financing must be more accessible. The Tanzania development vision foresees that, "By the year 2025, Tanzania should have created a strong, diversified, resilient and competitive economy, that can effectively cope with the challenges of development and that can also easily and confidently adapt to the changing market and technological conditions int he regional and global economy."

The Ministry works with businesses that have one to 99 employees. They call these businesses SME's or Small Medium Enterprises. When the meeting was over we were all inspired and provided many suggestions to the ministry. They were very open to hearing from us and keeping in touch. I will be writing emails to this group. I think their might be a way that the City of White Plains can partner with the ministry. Obviously, they are working on a country level and we are just a city but I think there is a lot we can learn from each other.

Technoserve

Alex Mikindi (sp?), Deputy Country Director of Technoserve presented this morning. Teh organization has received grants from Google.org and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. he was born and raised in Tanzania but received his Masters in the United States. Technoserve focuses on correcting the value chains for the cofee, banana and cashew industries in Tanzania. The organization also works in Latina America, other countries in Africa and India. Some examples of the work that they do are:

- Assist banana farmers remove the middlemen from their value chain. The transporters and brokers were taking most of the profit. Technoserve trained producers to do the work of these middle men and it helped organize the farmers as well as maximize their profit.

- Technoserve workes with 10,000 coffee farmers through a brand and association called Kilicafe that sells to Starbucks and illy. The farmers have ownership of the brand work together to maximize their profits and become more productive. Prior to Technoserves involvement, coffee producers were making less than a dollar a kilogram but now they sell to the U.S., Germany and Japan and receive two dollars a kilogram.

- The organization has not completed there work with the cashew industry in Tanzania but they have begun to identify the challenges. Cashew is the number one export crop in Tanzania and the 1st cashew crop that hits the market during the season. Cashews are expensive to the end consumer and usually eaten by wealthy people yet it is produced by the poorest farmers. Technoserve is planning on using the experiences that they have from their work in Mozambique with the cashew crop to help Tanzania.

Observations

When asked what I wanted do see while in Tanzania, I told everyone that I wanted to see people doing everyday things. On my trip to China, we were on the run and indoors all the time that I only saw people when they were going to and coming from work.

Today we drove by a couple of areas where there were tons of streetside formal and informal businesses. I saw women going to work in business suits, young boys and girls in their uniforms buying corn from the street vendors, women balancing buckets of water or bananas on their head without using their hands. Young men playing soccer on the beach and a group of young children swimming.



It's interesting to see how the tribal people and modern people coexist. We walk into a pretty modern office building and see two Masai (African Tribe) men walking through in their traditional clothing right next to the woman in her three piece suit speaking swahili on her cell phone.

I am surprised about the amount of cars on the roads. There is always traffic in Dar es Salaam and it seems like there are NO RULES! Our Professor told us that cars are imported from Japan where they have a law in place that no care can be more than 5 years old. They export them to Africa to get rid of them. Most people drive Toyota's. Go figure!

Alright, I am going to go and get ready for an "African Dinner," whatever that means!

Oh before I forget. Yesterday we met a South African U.N. pilot who was pretty upset that the Western world categorizes all Africans under one umbrella as if Africa was a country and not a whole continent. I see his issue, Latin Americans face the same thing. The world still has a lot of growing up to do. ;0)