Business titans told to up the ante in fighting poverty

MAUREEN ODUNGA

Chairman of the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF), Reginald Mengi

THE business community need to focus on ways of fighting poverty and create a favourable business environment, the Chairman of the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF), Reginald Mengi has appealed ahead of the national business council slated for next week.

“Both private and public sector should focus on same goals in boosting the country’s development which includes fighting against poverty,” said Mr Mengi when he met members of the Tanzania National Business Council (TNBC) in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday evening. He said the private sector was playing significant role to promote development and has a shared interest in achieving development results.

The private sector is often an agent of change and a potential partner for implementing the development goals of the country, he said and called on the business leaders to explore ways on how their business strategies can align around the development goals of the country and galvanise action for development.

He pointed out that for the country to achieve its economic development goals, it requires joint efforts for everyone to go a step further. “We cannot have our business prosper if other left behind due to poverty, we depend on one another, therefore let's work as a team to see the economy of our country growing,” he noted.

The TPSF Chairman also advocated for peace and harmony to attract more investments and a unified system that bares the same goals in the work environment. “Let’s all work hard, pay taxes and fight poverty among other issues to promote the development of our country,” he said.

According to the Executive Secretary of TNBC, Eng Raymond Mbilinyi, the purpose of the dialogue is to discuss and reach a mutual understanding on strategic issues affecting the business environment and investment climate in the country.

“Among areas is a dialogue on how to enhance and fast track industrialisation between the private and public sector,” he said.

The meeting will be chaired by President John Magufuli as a continuation of Smart Partnership Dialogue (SPD) series aimed at promoting the principles and practice of the ‘Smart Partnership’ approach to create cooperation between the government and the private sector in boosting industrialisation efforts.

He pointed out that members to the Council are 20 representatives from the Government and 20 others from the private sector ranging from business owners and others.