TANZANIA – The government of Tanzania has said the national quality awards competition organized by the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) is a fundamental initiative that will help the country penetrate the wider African business market.

The Minister for Industry and Trade Prof Kitila Mkumbo directed the Ministry of Industry and Trade as well as the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) to make sure they take seriously this initiative to benefit the country’s economy.

He made the remarks in Dar es Salaam at the launch of the national quality awards competition organized by SADC in collaboration with TBS and the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF).

According to him, the participation of the Tanzanian business community in the awards is of paramount importance particularly following the government’s ratification of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The pact connects 1.3 billion people across 55 countries with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) valued at USD 3.4 trillion.

Prof Mkumbo said this is a big economy and that Tanzania will participate in the awards competition to compete and penetrate the wider regional and continental market.

“It is high time that we produce high-quality products for easy penetration in the regional markets. The launching of the national awards is concurring with the government efforts geared at raising the quality of goods and services,” he said.

For the locally made products to meet the regional and international standards, he pointed out, it is important not only in the participation of the SADC awards but also in penetrating the wide markets.

SADC Quality Awards

The Minister informed that this is the first time that the country is taking part in the SADC awards and thus it is important to engage closely to ensure the business community participates actively in the competition.

The TBS Director General Dr Yusuf Ngenya said the competition is aimed at promoting the business sector through the advancement of the quality of goods and services in the SADC region.

He unveiled that the implementation of the initiative follows the agreement reached among SADC members to recognize and promote the business sector through the quality of goods and services.

The awards are part of the government’s plans to improve goods and services produced in the country through the use of TBS quality standards thus ensuring that they meet the national quality standards.

Ngenya noted that the efforts are fundamental in promoting sustainable development of the society, especially in the fourth industrial revolution.

The competition will focus on five aspects namely award to the best company of the year, best product of the year, best service of the year, the best seller of the year and award to the best individual who did well on issues related to quality standards.

The awards were prepared based on two categories namely for large scale companies and small-scale companies. The launching of the 2021/22 awards will go along with the granting of awards for the year 2020 through the competition organized by TBS, Small Industries Development Organization (SIDO), Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF), Zanzibar Bureau of Standards (ZBS) and TanTrade.

SADC began the award programme in 2011 for businesses exhibiting outstanding commitments to standardization and quality. The aim of these awards is to recognize organizations and individuals contributing to quality advancement in all sectors of SADC, and who use quality advancement to support economic development and growth.

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