East African entrepreneurs have been urged to effectively use the opportunities presented by the invasion of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) in leveraging on the their business operations.
This was said during the panel session on e-commerce themed “Increasing market access and optimizing business models through e-commerce,” in the second edition of the East African Business and Entrepreneurship Conference and Exhibition 2017 (EABECE) that was held from November 14th to November 16th at the Serena Hotel in Dar es Salaam.
Speaking as one of the panelist during that session, Head of Marketing for Jumia Tanzania, a company that deals with online shopping and delivery, Mr. Albany James noted that among the main challenges facing the online company is to convince all businesspersons and entrepreneurs to shift into e-commerce platform.
“We are providing a platform for both sellers and buyers to meet and do business online. Through our huge investment in online technologies, we are committed to provide easy business operations as the same as a buyer or seller would meet physically in shops,” said Mr. James, adding that “we are aware that the backbone of doing any business is to know who your customers are, where to find them and how to communicate effectively. And that is only possible through marketing and advertising, which most of SMEs cannot afford. Therefore, Jumia has chipped in to bridge that gap by offering free marketing visibility on our platforms which most of the customers easily access.”
Additionally, the Public Relations and Marketing Manager of Jumia Travel Tanzania, a Pan-African online travel agency, Mr. Kijanga Geofrey noted that business owners have the opportunity to shift to online platforms and increase their visibility and eventually their revenue returns..
“Reports shows that Tanzania is among the 20 fastest growing countries in the world and among the leading sectors are hospitality, infrastructures, finance and business to mention a few. But most important is the drastic growth of the ICT sector where statistics indicate that 40% of Tanzanians have access to internet network and the population has increased to 19.86 million in 2016 from 17.26 million in 2015. And that factor has led to the increase in the number of mobile phone users to reach 40.17 million in 2016,” said Geofrey.
With an 83% internet penetration rate, Tanzania as a tourism market has the potential for growth in the e-commerce sector. Currently, telecommunications is among the fast growing sectors in the country and plays an important role in financial inclusion among the citizens. Due to those advancements, the number of mobile money users has also increased to 18.08 million in 2016 from 17.63 million in 2015. “All these are indicators that Tanzanians are ready for e-commerce both technically and mentally,” concluded Kijanga.
Pointing out her views during that session, the Executive Director of Upendo Friends School Arusha, Ms. Isabella Mwampamba said that most women are reluctant to embrace new technologies; a factor that deprives them a lot of opportunities thus lagging behind.
“Hence, I would like to urge my fellow women and entrepreneurs in general to fully utilize new technologies so as to optimize our businesses and tap the untouched markets out there. I also call on other stakeholders in the ICT and e-commerce industry to conduct regular trainings on how these news platforms work,” urged Ms. Mwampamba.
The East African Business & Entrepreneurship Conference & Exhibition aims at providing an opportunity for business to business (B2B) and government to business (B2G) engagement. It is a platform for financiers and innovators to strengthen entrepreneurship in the EAC, a regional one-stop center for investment and trade opportunities. It was conducted for the first time last year from October 10th to October 13th in Nairobi, Kenya.
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