Tanzania: FAPA launches franchising project to bolster small enterprises

The Fund for African Private Sector Assistance launched its Africa Franchise Accelerator Project in Tanzania. The project will promote and model franchising as part of a national enterprise development strategy to stimulate economic integration, job creation, skills transfer and wealth creation.

FAPA, a multi-donor trust fund that finances technical assistance to advance the African Development Bank’s private sector development strategy, provided a $799,800 grant for the project.

The grant will support technical assistance to the Franchise Association of Tanzania to boost the transformation of 90 indigenous small and medium enterprises and 10 aggregated micro operators into franchise brands and sustain a thriving franchise system.

“This project offers a timely boost to Tanzania’s micro enterprises, which will gain access to growth-fueling intellectual property and an established brand name. Success here will also inform initiatives to scale up the franchising model across Africa,” said Omowunmi Jonah, task manager of AFRAP Project.

Franchising is a business arrangement in which an entrepreneur or small company–the franchisee– gains access to the brand power, operational systems and intellectual property of a more established entity, or franchisor, to conduct business.

The project is expected to diversify the economy by strengthening the competitiveness of Tanzania’s SMEs, which form a sizable proportion of the economy, as in most African countries.

Representatives of the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation attended the launch event held in Dar es Salaam on 9 July.

FAPA, managed by the African Development Bank with support from the Governments of Japan and Austria, has provided over $66 million in financing to 82 projects in over 38 African countries. The Fund’s portfolio includes regional and national projects to improve the business environment, strengthen financial systems, build private sector infrastructure, and promote trade and the development of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises.