Companies advised on acquisition of local barcodes

ANNE ROBI

GLOBAL Standard One (GS1) Tanzania National Limited has reiterated the need for business companies in the country to acquire Tanzanian barcodes for their own benefits and the country in general.

A Membership Officer with GS1, Ms Leah Choma, said yesterday in Dar es Salaam that majority of business people, including the SMEs, among others, are reluctant to seek for the barcodes from GS1. “So far, we (GS1) have registered only 1,800 business companies,” she said, adding that the number is too small compared to the number of business companies, people and SMEs in Tanzania.
She, however, said GSI together with district councils signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that enables the authorities (district councils) to start providing the barcode to companies in their areas.
“We hope to register more and more business companies as we (GS1) have also embarked on a countrywide campaign to empower the district councils to smoothen the process of providing the barcodes,” she said. Ms Choma pointed out that lack of information is one among the main barriers towards the acquisition of the barcodes from GS1.
She was speaking during the first Tripartite Local Sourcing for Partnership Workshop aimed at building inclusive growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in business processes.
The workshop which was hosted by Tripartite Private Sector Platform that consists of COMESA Business Council, East Africa Business Council and Association of SADC Chambers of Commerce and Industry also aimed at establishing job creation of SMEs and contribute to overall improvement of intra-trade development in the tripartite region.
Speaking at the workshop, the Project Manager of COMESA Business Council, Ms Pauline Kibugi, said that the training will help upgrade enterprises to meet the demands of today’s urban consumers.
Commenting on the local sourcing partnership project, Ms Kibugi said that the local sourcing within the tripartite region remains critically low and thus indicating the need to structure mechanisms that can encourage the consumption of homegrown products within the COMESA region.
“Companies often source outside the region due to various reasons, which include limitations of local market in meeting the basic requirements of time, cost, quality and consistency in supply,” she said. She said the workshop will address the core challenges faced by enterprises while trading in the market.
“Some of the challenges include the failure of SMEs to meet the international standard requirements and inconsistent supply from local SMEs,” she said.