Walking down the streets of Kariokor in downtown Dar es Salaam on a cloudy humid day brings me face to face with Tanzania's entrepreneurial economy.Other than the buzz enamating from flies in the filthy stinking streets connecting to Kariakor and Uhuru streets, one cannot fail to notice the number of neat buildings coming up in the once rustic East African coastal city.
This time round, i'm in Dar for official purposes and not for pleasure and on this particular day i'm in the company of an acquitance from my host institution in Dar. He is taking me to his production studios on Masasi street in the expansive Kariakor business district.
The studios duplicate (the real word is pirate) foreign movies and package them. If you have been to East Africa and seen hawkers hawking foreign Dvd's - the likes that have 20 movies in one disk - then those are the ones i'm talking about.
My friends studio also translate english movies into swahili and sometimes lands contracts to legally duplicate Tanzanian productions in agreement with the copyright holder. Please note that these studios on Masasi, Magilla and Aggrey streets don't pirate Tanzanian productions, only foreign (Western, Indian and Chinese productions).
Most of these Dvds are shipped to DR Congo and Malawi but also find their way to Kenya, Burundi and Rwanda. One shipment yields (all overheads deducted) US$ 1,200 for my friend and he ships 2 consignments in a month.
This is not the only thriving business in Dar and Tanzania in general. The country is blessed with having plenty of food. Tanzanians in general love spending money but are also the number one money savers in East Africa. The country is sorrounded by 6 land locked countries, two (DR Congo and Zambia) which are rich in minerals. The country itself is very rich in a variety of minerals. Tanzania has the second largest African elephant populations in the World which stands at 400,000. Botswana has the highest number.
Tanzania is also already producing natural gas in Mtwara, south Tanzania and is tipped to be the second largest producer of natural gas in the near future.
Kenya is a sophisticated economy but at a closer look, Tanzania's economy might be larger than Kenya's
This time round, i'm in Dar for official purposes and not for pleasure and on this particular day i'm in the company of an acquitance from my host institution in Dar. He is taking me to his production studios on Masasi street in the expansive Kariakor business district.
The studios duplicate (the real word is pirate) foreign movies and package them. If you have been to East Africa and seen hawkers hawking foreign Dvd's - the likes that have 20 movies in one disk - then those are the ones i'm talking about.
My friends studio also translate english movies into swahili and sometimes lands contracts to legally duplicate Tanzanian productions in agreement with the copyright holder. Please note that these studios on Masasi, Magilla and Aggrey streets don't pirate Tanzanian productions, only foreign (Western, Indian and Chinese productions).
Most of these Dvds are shipped to DR Congo and Malawi but also find their way to Kenya, Burundi and Rwanda. One shipment yields (all overheads deducted) US$ 1,200 for my friend and he ships 2 consignments in a month.
This is not the only thriving business in Dar and Tanzania in general. The country is blessed with having plenty of food. Tanzanians in general love spending money but are also the number one money savers in East Africa. The country is sorrounded by 6 land locked countries, two (DR Congo and Zambia) which are rich in minerals. The country itself is very rich in a variety of minerals. Tanzania has the second largest African elephant populations in the World which stands at 400,000. Botswana has the highest number.
Tanzania is also already producing natural gas in Mtwara, south Tanzania and is tipped to be the second largest producer of natural gas in the near future.
Kenya is a sophisticated economy but at a closer look, Tanzania's economy might be larger than Kenya's
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