Munasa Nyirembe, Arumeru District Commissioner
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is the modern age engine of socio-economic development as well as one the biggest employment sectors prompting the government to call on Tanzanian youth to explore social-economic opportunities in ICT and the general on going commercialisation of technology to empower themselves and the country.
Arumeru District Commissioner, Munasa Nyirembe made the call here over the weekend when speaking at an ICT entrepreneurs’ networking event organised by Dar Teknohama Business Incubator (DTBi).
Speaking on behalf of the Arusha Regional Commissioner Magesa Mulongo, DC Munasa, challenged the youth to effectively use ICT to serve for the betterment of their lives both socially and economically.
“We need to move with the global technology speed… in 20 years, Africa will be the world’s giant and as such, the digital platform is very important and we must maximise its benefits,” the DC said.
“ICT entrepreneurs must be innovative and read between the lines if they are to compete in the international markets,” he added.
The DC further called for ICT based firms to list on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE) to open up their capital portfolio to the public allowing them larger ventures.
He also commended DTBi for taking the iniative saying it is necessary to reach out and increase investment awareness to the youth.
Acting Chief Executive officer of DTBi, Makange Mramba said the incubator session was aimed at serving as a hub for technology start-ups and to actively identify and provide value-added services required to support the incubator clients’ success.
“…our task is to turn ideas into profitable businesses. We nurture and support ICT entrepreneurs from their early stages into strong companies as well as increasing the chances of business survival by providing access to shared resources,” the DTBi official explained.
DTBi facilitates access to finance and markets through credible support, guidance and business management. They also provide networking for technical trends.
So far, there are 41 ICT companies in Tanzania who are in their pre-incubation stages and eleven of these are from Arusha working on solving challenges related to agriculture, tourism, health, communication and transport logistics.