Assistant Minister for Trade and Industries Janeth Mbene.

Locals should be the first to benefit in any development and foreign investors be given second priority because they often need more persuasion, Assistant Minister for Trade and Industries Janeth Mbene.

 

She said there was need to reconsider ‘the investor theories’ that projects were only for foreigners and not locals, which has led to the death of many industries in the country.

 

She made the remark during a tour of G&B Soap Industries at SalaSala area, noting that the interests of the locals should be taken into consideration during tender allocation.

 

“During the Nyerere era, it was government policy that local people to be at the forefront in creating priorities by harnessing potentials that exist in respective regions for development,” added the minister.

 

She said Nyerere left a living legacy of ‘blossoming industries’ in almost every sector in each region because local investors were well placed to engage in development as they had information about the projects.

 

Managing Director of G&B Industries, the  manufacturer of Family Detergent Soap and Familydent, Godlin Makundi, said local investors were ready to revive stalled industries.

 

“We saw the collapse of our industries because of unfriendly policies of foreigners who asked the government to impose a 10 per cent levy on firms managed by local investors that manufactured edible oil,” said Makundi. 

 

He added: “The government should harness the hybrid of local and foreign investments to provide opportunity for learning from each other on issues of developing industries.”

 

Makundi praised the government for an enabling investor environment but said a lot is needed to be done, including reduction of power tariff as well as improvement of infrastructure. “We need to be assured of reduced cost of energy, but also assured of its reliability,” said Makundi.