Entrepreneurship

A Brief Introduction to DAREnterprisers

A Brief Introduction to 'Ideation to Investment'

The Need

​Tanzania is a rapidly developing nation, with an annual economic growth rate of approximately seven percent. The country’s largest city, Dar es Salaam, has the ninth fastest growing population in the world. Naturally, this rapid influx of people has led to a greater demand for jobs and services.
 
​Youth unemployment in particular is a large and growing problem. A significant proportion of economic activity in Dar is highly informal in nature; thus, there exists a discrepancy between the demand for skilled jobs and the positions currently available in the labour market. In fact, there are approximately 800,000 young Tanzanian professionals competing for 416,000 formal jobs. ​​
 
One way to tackle this economic challenge is through the creation and fostering of localised small businesses– using a model of human-centred design to address issues related to healthcare, energy, and more. However, there is a lack of entrepreneurial culture among students, as the Tanzanian education system does not encourage students to think creatively, even at the University level.
 
​Creative and driven individuals are needed to develop ideas. The social enterprises they develop boost the internal development of the city and foster local economic diversification and growth.
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Our Work

DAREnterprisers (2014-2017)
 
In 2014, CDI established an eight-week course, DAREnterprisers, for 22 students at the University of Dar es Salaam, one of the top universities in Tanzania:​
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​The course’s aim was to equip students with the relevant business, social and personal skills to succeed as entrepreneurs.
 
At the same time, the programme worked to tackle some of the problems facing Tanzania across three areas: Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WaSH), Manufacturing & Urban Living, and Off-grid Energy. It ended with a sold-out conference, bringing our students together with industry experts and other innovators, who all shared the vision of using ‘impactful innovation’ to improve Dar.
 
Businesses formed during the programme had the opportunity to pitch to audiences of several hundred people, with a chance to receive seed capital for their ventures as well.
 
The DARE to Change Dar conference (held after the 2016 and 2017 programme cycles) offered a range of events; including the aforementioned student business pitches, expert panel discussions, guest speakers, audience-interactive activities, and opportunities for networking.​
 
The theme of ‘Impactful Innovation' acted as a constant reminder of the importance of seeking sustainability, improvement and creativity.
 
With over 200 applicants to the Summer 2017 course, CDI’s Entrepreneurship team in conjunction with the University of Dar es Salaam was able to host 45 Tanzanian students, supporting their development as social entrepreneurs over the course of the programme. Following the well-attended end of course conference, the three prize-winning business ideas received seed capital of between $1,000 and $3,000 to jump-start their work.
 
In 2018, after several years of development, implementation, and careful monitoring & evaluation, the CDI entrepreneurship course model was transitioned into the hands of Tanzanian partners (DOT and UDSM). Under their direction, the course has been expanded and conducted on a much larger scale than CDI’s limited structural capacity allowed. This transition represents the culmination of CDI’s efforts to achieve sustainability and scalability in our development initiatives.
 
Into Business
 
As the DAREnterprisers course has been handed over, the 2017-2018 Entrepreneurship team researched, developed and piloted a new project: Into Business.
 
The Into Business programme involved a series of free stand-alone seminars throughout the summer that aimed to teach participants the key skills they will need to succeed in business. These ranged from CV writing and interview skills workshops, to seminars on business ideation, business registration, law and tax, and raising capital.
 
In addition, several inspirational speakers ran seminars to share their success stories. A highlight was Benjamin Fernandes, a well-known Tanzanian businessman and national TV personality, giving an inspiring seminar attended by over 90 participants!
 
In particular, the project aimed to focus on women’s empowerment in the business sector. The structure of DAREnterprisers resulted in few women participating in the programme due to cultural and logistical challenges. Therefore, Into Business aimed involve, represent, and empower young women by employing a structure that is more sensitive to their needs.
 
Participation of women was increased through reduced time commitments and accessible locations, gender mainstreaming in curriculum content and the speakers who delivered it, as well as targeting young women directly through contacting NGOs focused on women. In particular, a seminar run by Khalila Mbowe on “Gender Equality in Business” was extremely inspirational and empowering.

Our Vision

For the 2018-2019 cycle, the impact of the 2018 Into Business programme will be assessed and a decision will be made on whether it will be continued. If so, there will be a focus on how to increase impact via improved attendance and access, a more defined target audience and refined curriculum based on feedback from this year, better interactivity in seminars and enhancing the digital resource bank that complements the seminars.
 
Furthermore, research and development of other pilot projects may be considered for the upcoming year, including proposals about a student consultancy involving teams of professionally trained students pairing up with local businesses to maximise their entrepreneurial success. 


2020

For the summer of 2020, the entrepreneurship project are looking at developing a business incubator and accelerator.

CDI will develop an accelerator aimed at helping start-ups to gain  investment readiness and grow their entrepreneurial business. This would be done in partnership with KITE, where CDI and KITE would train volunteers from both UK and Tanzanian business schools  as business consultants, and create a human capital that is able to take on clients (start-ups) and help them grow. For this, we will develop training programmes and guides on how to consult, as well as guides on how to establish  a business in Tanzania and other material to develop entrepreneurial skills. The goal is to have the know-how and human capital to help businesses develop and grow.

Furthermore, the start-up accelerator could provide seed-funding to some entrepreneurs. This last feature could be attached to a hackathon style competition (this idea needs to be further developed). CDI’s comparative advantage compared to other start-up accelerators in Tanzania is that it would be focused on small start-ups that concentrate more on sectors such as manufacturing or agriculture, rather than technology, for which the resources are more accessible, therefore encouraging a greater number of people to become entrepreneurs. Likewise, it could have a focus on student and young-entrepreneurs’ start-ups. 

Setting up a start-up accelerator will enable the sustainability of CDI’s entrepreneurship programmes, as we can make sure that new consultants are trained on a regular and ongoing basis. Likewise, it can be financially sustainable as businesses can then retribute a percentage of their financial growth to the accelerator. More research needs to be done to decide what rate this could be set at.  For this latter part, the accelerator would need to be registered as a social enterprise, which would be a focus for the team this summer.

A further element of sustainability to this year’s plan would be the introduction of an entrepreneur roundtable. The entrepreneurs receiving mentorship from CDI and KITE consultants would also be invited to quarterly roundtable discussions where they could bring challenges and issues to one another to discuss, and provide support to each other. This would help with isolation and silos in the start-up industry for young entrepreneurs, building a more connected network. 

Alongside our KITE counterpart, we are looking to engage with faculty members in business schools here in Cambridge and in Dar Es Salaam to help us develop our training programmes and to help practically facilitate the roundtable sessions.

Our Impact

For the full version of the Entrepreneurship Project's Impact Report, please see our Publications Page. ​​​