Tanzania: E-commerce boosts entrepreneurship

During a recent forum held at the University of Dar es Salaam that brought together a number of tertiary institutions including Institute of Finance Management (IFM), College of Business Education(CBE), University of Dodoma(UDOM), Tumaini University, St Augustine University(SAUT), Moshi University college of Business(MUCOBS), Ruaha College, students were wowed by the revelations of online platforms.

Junior Madebe, a student from the College of Business education said that the forum was highly informative and that thanks to the brilliance of the speakers, he was able to connect with them.

Image via 123RF

"The paper on e-commerce really appealed to me mostly because though I am an accounting major, I am also an upcoming entrepreneur. I am fascinated by the internet and countless opportunities it presents to us young entrepreneurs. If we understand it, we can really use it to develop ourselves in many ways," he explained.

A recent graduate, Deo Mrua said that while felt that internet penetration had substantially increased and smartphones were in abundance, marketing plans have not necessarily changed radically to reflect this.

"Personally I feel that the digital landscape is changing so rapidly that entrepreneurs and marketers need to keep up with the latest information available to make quick decisions on how to abreast and go a step ahead of the competition," he said.

Recent studies by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) show that that while entrepreneurship rates in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are high, the majority of entrepreneurs are driven by necessity rather than opportunity.

The report found that SSA has also higher rates of potential young entrepreneurs than other regions, but a substantial portion (about one third) of them is also driven to entrepreneurship out of necessity.

"Most new enterprises operate in low value-added sectors such as the retail trade. Further, in contrast to other regions, young entrepreneurs in SSA are less confident than their adult counterparts that they will be creating jobs over the next five years," the report reads in part.

A special guest speaker of the forum and Kaymu's Country manager Erfaan Mojgani and shared his experience in the area of e-commerce.

He explained that e-commerce is the turning point to any business there is today and that entrepreneurs should make use of the internet access to actually make an income for themselves as there are a lot of platforms on the internet that one can log on and sell all their products for free.