Upcoming Events

October 26th, 2017 Speed Networking Event

November 19th, 2017, Annual Thanksgiving Dinner

NEWSLETTEROCTOBER

Thanksgiving is upon us, but for many, 2017 has been a year of difficult economic news. AmCham doesn’t want to shy away from tough conversations about the business environment, but we believe that Thanksgiving is an opportunity to look on the bright side and celebrate this beautiful country that we all call home.

On 19 November at 5pm, AmCham will be holding its annual Thanksgiving dinner at Best Western Coral Beach Hotel in Masaki. This will be a celebration with members, key stakeholders, and guests. As always, all are welcome.

There will be some great Tanzanian music from the 1970s and 80s by the DDC Mlimani Park Orchestra, new ideas from around the region, and of course, plenty of good food. If you can attend or would like to sponsor the event, please book now at info@amcham-tz.com.

Please read on for more information about other upcoming initiatives. And let me know if there are other ways we can assist you and your company. I always appreciate your feedback.

Regards,Dan HolodnikManaging Partner, Ametan Contractors

Letter from the Chairman

HIGHLIGHTS

www.amcham-tz.com

SPEED NETWORKING EVENT:SIGN UP TODAY, LIMITED SPACES

A WARM WELCOME

TO MS. PATRICIA WAGNER

AmCham Tanzania would like to welcome

Patricia Wagner, the new commercial officer at the US Embassy in Tanzania. Congratulations on your

new appointment, and we look ofrward to working

closely together.

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Recent & Upcoming Events

Minesterial Dialogue hosted by Tanzania Private Sector Foundation: The Ministry of Industries, Trade & Investment and Ministry of Finance & Planning have will be meet with the private sector and business community on October 24th 2017, at Dar es Salaam Serena Hotel (08:30 am).

The meeting is a result of a consultative meeting co-chaired by Hon. Charles Mwijage Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment and Hon. Dr. Philip Mpango, Minister for Finance and Planning that brought together the Government and Private Sector in one sitting to discuss impediments facing businesses.

TPSF has invted 20 members of AmCham Tanzania to attend this event, registered participants will be contacted by October 20th, 2017 to confirm their registration.

SAVE THE DATES

OCT. 26th - Speed Networking EventNOV. 19th - Thanksgiving Dinner

October 2017 Newsletter | 3

Business Environment/Investment Survey

Building the grid of the future, todaySOURCE: Gabriel Davies,The Brookings Institution

Every evening, the sun drops behind the horizon and darkness falls. And, every evening, although 6 billion people reach out and switch on the lights, over 1.2 billion remain off-grid.

For over 100 years, since Thomas Edison’s coal-fired power station first lit up homes and offices in downtown Manhattan, the power for that light has—for the vast majority—been delivered by the electricity grid.

But the grid as it is today cannot meet the challenge of delivering power to the 1 billion people who remain without it.

Delivering power to the final billion will require the grid of the future—combining governments, the private sector, and the technological innovations that are revolutionizing the energy industry as we know it.

The challenge is best illustrated by the 650 million Africans who don’t have access to electricity, and living mainly in remote, rural areas. At the moment, the economics of electrifying those communities are non-viable for three main reasons. READ MORE HERE

UPDATES From The US Embassy Commercial Section

The diplomatic community has come together to engage with the Government of Tanzania on the business environment, individually and collectively. This is a joint effort by all diplomatic missions, lead by the EU Ambassador.

A survey has been devised to gather data on business environment. It

consists of 13 questions relating specifically to investment, turnover and employment trends in the market from 2015 to present day. The idea here is to ensure that no company can be specifically detected from the data sets and all information will be gathered anonymously for this purpose. To this end, the data sets within each survey question have also deliberately

been bracketed in a way to allow for a greater level of anonymity without forcing firms to provide exact data which is sensitive in nature. The survey has also been sent to other relevant business groups.

READ MORE HERE

The U.S. Department of Commerce across Sub Saharan Africa is recruiting a high level official delegation to the Power Gen International, scheduled for December 5- 7, 2017, at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV. The delegation will join other delegations from across Sub-Saharan Africa for a regional program at Power-Gen International 2017.

For information of the event, or application, please send your expression of interest with a one page profile of your organization, to Commercial Specialist Mary Paul Msemwa Mary.Msemwa@trade.gov , clearly stating your objectives for attending.

Power-Gen International (PGI) 2017 Conference & Exhibition in Las Vegas, Nevada.

October 2017 Newsletter | 4

The future of farming in Africa is not agriculture but agribusiness.

Can Africa Be a Manufacturing Destination? Labor Costs in Comparative Perspective.

NEWS & ALERTS October 2017

Stable, coastal countries like Senegal, Kenya, and Tanzania seem like strong candidates for a role in global manufacturing, yet they’re still too expensive when labor and capital costs are considered.

Our central question is whether African countries can break into global manufacturing in a substantial way. Using a newly-constructed panel of firm-level data from the World Bank’s Enterprise Surveys, we look at labor costs in a range of low and middle income countries in Africa and elsewhere. Using fixed effects and random effects models, we estimate a set of labor costs, both actual and hypothetical—what would labor costs for

Sub-Saharan African firms look like if they were located outside of Africa? What would Bangladesh’s labor costs be if it was located on the African continent?

Our results suggest that for any given level of GDP, labor is more costly for firms that are located in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, we also find that there are a few countries in Africa that, on a labor cost basis, may be potential candidates for manufacturing—Ethiopia in particular stands out. We conclude with thoughts on the future of manufacturing in Africa.

READ MORE HERE

Source: Abdi Latif Dahir, Quartz Africa

Africa is a farm lover’s dream: abundant uncultivated arable land, roughly over half the global total; tropical climates that permit long growing seasons; a young labor force; and an expanding population that provides a readily available market for produce consumption.

Yet, African countries are yet to harness these opportunities to ensure sustainable food security and food production. The average age of farmers is about 60 years—in a continent where 60% of the population is under 24 years of age. Farmers are also less educated, with younger, more educated Africans are leaving rural areas, where farms are located, and moving to cities. READ MORE HERE

SOURCE: Center for Global Development - Alan Gelb , Christian Meyer , Vijaya Ramachandran and Divyanshi Wadhwa

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Contact Us American Chamber of Commerce in Tanzania

P.O. Box 12220, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania info@amcham-tz.com www.amcham-tz.com

THANK YOUTo our Gold & Platinum Members

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