Highly taxed raw materials used in tanneries make local made leather products uncompetitive in the market.

This was said in Dar es Salaam yesterday by Ital Show Factory Manager Mr Novat Kaijage at the Industry Expo taking place at the Julius Nyerere Trade Fair Ground along Kilwa Road. He said for example footwear made locally are of high quality but its price is higher compared to imported shoes thus rendering them uncompetitive.

“High taxes in some chemicals used in the tanneries remain to be a challenge that affects directly the end prices of the footwear in the local market,” he said. He said it was high time for the government to intervene and reduce taxes on the raw materials to make the prices for leather products affordable particularly for low income earners.

He said local manufacturers were capable of meeting the demand for footwear in the country but continued imports of cheap footwear hold back their efforts to grow. He said currently the leather industry’s contributions to the economy is still minimal due to low investments and uncompetitive business environment that has been favouring cheap imports.

Should conducive business environment be created, Tanzania has huge potentials to become a giant exporter of leather products and ultimately boost the sector’s contributions to the national economy.

Tanzania is second in Africa after Ethiopia with highest livestock population of more than 22 million cattle, 16 million goats and seven million sheep as per 2015 statistics.

EDITORIAL

Something needs to be done urgently to arrest the runaway coffee theft that has caused farmers huge losses in several counties.

As we report elsewhere in this edition, growers have lost at least 50,000 kilogrammes of the product worth an estimated Sh50 million in recent months.

It has been extremely puzzling how the daring thieves go into factories and make away with hundreds of bags right under the noses of guards and the police.

Many theories have been advanced to explain the wave of theft.

Some fingers have been pointed towards the police, some suspect a role by cooperative society officials, private estates and millers.

Farmers have also questioned the silence of government regulatory agencies in the face of this rampant theft.

It is time for the authorities to step in and take action.

This is, first, a law and order issue. It is utterly unacceptable that these crimes have been unfolding with hardly any of the criminals being arrested.

The police in the areas where this theft is occurring, particularly in Nyeri, Kirinyaga and Murang’a, need to prevent the crimes or be held to account for their inaction.

Society officials also need to take preventive action to ensure the coffee that farmers entrust in their care is well guarded.

Ultimately, though, policy action needs to be taken.

The rampant theft of coffee probably reflects the fact there are too many private millers with a licence to sell the produce but not enough coffee to meet their demands.

What appears necessary is to rationalise the issuing of these licences and to carefully monitor the activities of these millers to ensure they do not resort to crime to secure coffee.

The Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Willy Bett also needs to do more.

His silence on this serious problem is puzzling.

The extremely low profile he keeps raises questions as to whether that critically important ministry has the right calibre of leadership.

Coffee was once one of the country’s top foreign exchange earners and a critical product that sustained tens of thousands of livelihoods.

It cannot be right that farmers lose produce worth millions while key government officials sit on their hands.

By Eronie Kamukama

Kampala — As government moves towards the production phase of oil from the Albertine region, insurance companies in Uganda have announced that they will jointly cover risks in the oil and gas sector.

Addressing journalists at Kampala Serena Hotel on Wednesday, the chairman of the oil and gas sector at the Uganda Insurers Association (UIA), Mr Azim Tharani, said the risks associated with the sector are enormous.

The consortium will enable the insurance service providers to handle oil and gas risks within Uganda.

“There are complex and difficult risks that require huge amounts of money and therefore as an association, we felt that it was better for us to combine our capacities,” Mr Tharani said.

Dodoma — Tanzanians have been encouraged to exercise farming and bee keeping at the same time due to the fact that the business has many advantages including environmental protection.

Speaking to youth who visited former Premier Mizengo Pinda’s farm bees, the officer in charge of the farm, Mr Singu Mayaya said investing on bee while farming pays. He told The United Nations Youth Forum that by having such kind of a farm people would enjoy benefits and increase productivity within a limited area.

“If you look at where we are, you can understand what I mean. We have mango trees and beehives in the same area. This common field makes use of bees operation to produce honey, pollinating mango flowers” he said.

He insisted that by having such kind of farms, the farmers get more yields annually. He however, cautioned that, in order to benefit from the business, farmers are advised to build racks under the shades for the beehives.

He advised that grass thatched shades are cheaper and recommended. He added that rack guarantee security to bee and beehives. “In most cases, bees are attacked by enemies, therefore it is important to take precautions,” he said.

Shamba Consultant, David Kamara said the former premier move to have such kind of a farm aimed at challenging other people to change attitudes towards agriculture. He said the former Premier wanted to help other people to learn best farming skills. “Many people are coming here to learn.

We are inviting youth to learn and practice this kind of agriculture, this will help them to change their lives,” he said.

A resident of Gasabo District died after a casseterite mine caved in on Sunday.

Rwanda National Police (RNP) yesterday identified the deceased as Seleverien Minani.

He was illegally mining casseterite in a closed concession in Nduba Sector, and died after he tampered with a weak cliff causing landslide, according to police.

The body of the deceased was exhumed shortly after the incident after a resident, who had witnessed the accident, reported it.

Police appealed to the general population, especially communities residing near mining sites, to desist from illegal mining activities, which in some cases result into disasters and loss of life.

Supt. Emmanuel Hitayezu, the Police Spokesperson for the City of Kigali, said: “These are unfortunate incidents that are preventable. In most cases, people who go in these concessions for illegal activities have no knowledge of the status of the site. There is always a reason as to why some concessions are temporarily or permanently closed, which include the health or life risks foreseen.”

“This concession, for example, had been closed by its owner to give way for its upgrade to the required standard and to avert such risks,” Supt. Hitayezu said.

The concession belongs to Crystal Mining Trading Company.

Supt. Hitayezu further noted that such illegal activities also have their effects on the environment and water pollution in particular, and have also contributed to soil erosion.

“Mining is not something that is practiced by anyone; it requires skills and knowledge, if it is done wrongly, a lot is at risk, including people’s lives. It’s a profession that requires expertise,” said Supt. Hitayezu.

“These illegal miners also do not put in place any measures that will safeguard them from taking risks like dust, smoke and landslides. With the fact that the illegal miners are mostly unskillful, they also operate with no protective gears.”

He appealed to residents to always report to authorities people who engage in such unlawful activities to prevent likely loss of life and illegal mineral business, which also has an impact on the economy.

By Staff Reporter

MINES permanent secretary Francis Gudyanga this Wednesday escaped being slapped with contempt of parliament by a whisker after he dared the mines committee chairperson to recuse himself on grounds of conflict of interest.

Gudyanga, who was appearing before the committee to answer to multiple allegations of abuse of office, said he would not answer to questions on the operations of Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) until the chair recused self.

The committee alleges that Gudyanga unjustifiably dismissed the evaluators who were working in the Marange fields only to replace them with his friends at a higher cost in return for kickbacks.

“One company was providing services to Marange, we had issues with it and you chairman you are one of the principal directors of that company and it’s a matter that I feel you presiding puts me in a difficult position. I would expect you to recuse yourself,” said Gudyanga.

A fuming Shumba accused Gudyanga of constantly trying to annoy the committee each time he appears. While admitting Marange still owed his company, he emphasized that his questions were impersonal as he had since stopped providing services to Marange.

“I have never dealt with Marange since 2012 and I was elected to this house in 2013. I may find him in contempt of parliament because of his fugitive avoidance of the question. I declared everything to parliament. Unless I was providing the service today,” responded Shumba.

“I have asked him a question on the company he appointed, for which it is alleged he is getting a commission, he did not go to tender. He should not come here to play games with this committee.”

Legislator John Holder had to mediate demanding that Gudyanga sticks to questions asked and stop reducing the sitting into a personal clash.

Gudyanga then described his dealings with an agriculture firm, Pedstock, used as a conduit to pay South Africa’s Glamel for border control services from MMCZ funds where he is the sole board member as security matters which cannot be shared with parliament.

It is the committee’s case that the secretary used part of the funds to bankroll the installation of irrigation equipment at his farm.

The parliamentarians based their assumptions on the un-procedural nature in which the funds were handled and the fact that the transaction coincided with the installation of the equipment at the farm.

Also, his evidence contradicted Pedstock’s narrative which claimed that Gudyanga had paid for the $50 000 worth of service in cash.

By Jamie Miller, President & CEO of GE Transportation

In Egypt, Lake Nasser is perhaps the country’s most important lake. It manages flooding, ensures a steady flow of water to the Nile River Valley and generates electricity. But there’s a new kind of lake that will become increasingly important to Egypt’s economy – the data lake.

Data lakes  are enormous linked databases of information that, when analyzed on a historical or real-time basis, can deliver powerful insights into all types of large and complex systems. These insights can improve efficiencies and system performance, availability and reliability.

In our manufacturing processes at  GE Transportation , we are using data lakes to identify potential faults in locomotive software nearly three months sooner than we could have before. And we’re building on those insights to diagnose root causes in parts and entire locomotives, leading to quicker factory fixes and the identification of quality failure indicators.

For customers such as the  Egyptian National Railways (ENR) , better manufacturing processes mean better locomotive performance and reliability. That’s vital given that ENR  carries 6 million tons of cargo  across the country, helping drive economic activity.

As a partner to ENR, GE supports nearly one-fifth of ENR’s total operating fleet with 110 GE locomotives in service, accounting for the maximum hauling capacity in ENR’s fleet.

Among these tractors are 81  Evolution Series locomotives  that produce the same 4,400 HP as their 16-cylinder predecessor, but with less fuel. The Evolution’s turbocharged engine provides efficiency, fewer emissions and lower maintenance costs, alongside dramatically improved reliability and the ability to incorporate future increases in power and efficiency.

All of these GE locomotives can benefit from our use of data lake technology – in both the production and maintenance of these locomotives in Egypt and around the world.

A powerful example of the proven capabilities of the data lake is what we’ve achieved with GE Aviation jet engines. Last year we launched a new service called the industrial data lake in GE Aviation that ingested full flight data for 25 customers, including Air Asia and Eva Air, and over 3.4 million flights.

When a jet engine spikes a temperature, the system can dive into the digital lake to look for past instances of similar behavior involving the same make, age or service history. The result allows operators to make adjustments to achieve a 10-fold improvement in cost reductions, reduced unplanned downtime, increased productivity and lower fuel costs.

But it’s not just in direct manufacturing processes or maintenance that data lakes make a difference. Last year, GE as a company began using data lake technology to provide real-time visibility across our industrial direct materials sourcing. Since then, we’ve connected dozens of sourcing systems and we’re now going deep within a business to connect engineering with manufacturing with supply chain with services.

We’ve dramatically improved the quality of our supplier data and payment term data. We’ve also identified significant cost savings opportunities.

Clearly the technology is leading-edge, but the basic concept isn’t rocket science: Connect data to drive value and solve problems.

We are doing this at GE, as we remake ourselves as a digital industrial company and create the architecture for our future. There’s no doubt that this transition will play a critical role in our success.

But we also are working with our customers globally and in Egypt to leverage the tremendous power of digital industrial solutions. With solutions such as data lakes, we are helping customers achieve efficiencies and improvements to processes, systems and equipment. This is good for these companies but it’s also good for the broader economy in areas such as reduced fuel consumption and lower emissions

By Bernard Chiguvare

“Malaicha” explain that prices include cost of bribes

Zimbabweans working and living in South Africa are getting around the ban on imports of some goods into Zimbabwe by using the informal “malaicha” delivery services.

Malaicha are Zimbabweans offering unregistered courier services from South Africa to Zimbabwe.

Zimbabweans interviewed say the service is expensive yet convenient. But, says a malaicha courier, the costs are reasonable because they have to cover bribes to police and immigration officials.

“My costs may seem unrealistic but the expenses I incur are high. I have to pay toll fees, fuel and bribes all the way. At times I end up using my own money. But customers never believe me,” says the courier, who did not want to be named.

Domestic worker Noma Gombedza, who has used this service twice this year, says, “I send my stuff by malaicha because it is convenient for me. Malaicha come straight to my doorstep, collect all the goods I want to send home, and deliver to the doorstep.”

Gombedza, 48, says she bought groceries worth R1,200 in August and paid malaicha services R600 for delivery from Cape Town to Masvingo, in south-eastern Zimbabwe.

She says the price depends on bargaining. “Most of the time malaicha win, because they propose very high charges before negotiations. In my case for these groceries they had asked R800,” she says.

Since earlier this year, Zimbabwean law restricts the import of some goods, including blankets.

According to Gombedza the malaicha couriers charge R300 to deliver a blanket that costs R600.

“I sometime gave bus drivers my groceries, but it inconvenienced my children [back in Zimbabwe]. Bus drivers often do not honour their promises … At times, my children had to spend the whole night awake at the bus stop waiting for the goods.”

Another Zimbabwean, who wished to remain anonymous, says she will never use malaicha services again, because a secondhand table and set of chairs that she had struggled to buy and then send by malaicha services were all broken by the time they reached Zimbabwe, and she was not refunded.

The furniture cost R1,500 and the courier service cost R1,000 from Cape Town to Harare.

“Because of the border restrictions on imports, if I am to send groceries or any other stuff home, I prefer using malaicha, because I am sure the goods will not be confiscated at the border,” says another domestic worker. “Malaicha guys negotiate with immigration and police officers.”

COLUMNBy Moremi Marwa

Once you have a clear and well informed personal investment plan, then this should be carefully followed by the evaluation of your risk tolerance level: it is important to know that all investments involve some degree of risk. The degree of risk however, varies from one asset class (or securities with the asset class) to another.

For example, shares are traditionally known to one of the investments that have the highest degree of risk compared to other asset classes such as bonds or bank deposits. But, it is important to also remember there is a principle of investment that says: the higher the risk, the higher the return.

So, what is necessary here is for one to be able to establish the maximum level of investment that you are willing to lose in case the investment outcome goes against your expectations. In this process, it is important for you to also determine at which point in time you will need cash for other purposes, other than investing.

The point of cash need requires a careful consideration mainly because investment in listed shares should normally be looked into a medium to long term horizon. Speculative motives and “quick money” mentality shouldn’t be entertained or pursued when investing in the markets. I know some people uses this as a money making strategy (i.e. buying during IPOs and selling on a day listing), but this is as good a strategy until it is not good for you.

In your risk tolerance plans, as some advisers would put it, you psychologically should be ready or be comfortable to loose up to a third of your investment especially when moments are tough — knowing that after-all, when all is being said and done, the reward of taking on risk is the potential for a greater investment return.

If you are pursuing a goal that have a medium to long term horizon, you are likely to make more money by carefully investing in asset categories with greater risk, such as shares rather than restricting your investments to assets with less risk, like cash equivalents e.g. opening a savings account or a bank deposit. Furthermore, investing solely in cash equivalents may be appropriate for short term financial goals, even in this case one should be mindful of the inflation risk — the risk that inflation will outpace and erode investment returns over time.

Thirdly, diversification is an important element when investing in listed shares. It wise for an investors if (s)he ensures that (s)he is not overly exposed in a single company or single sector, instead an investor should spread the investment risk across a number of sectors, or companies within the same sector. In most cases, the returns of different sectors in rare cases will move up and down together at the same time. As an example, since the beginning of the year (2016), the banking sector’s performance, for various reasons, has not been at its best performance relative to the previous two decades where the sector enjoyed a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15 percent and above.

We all know that the banking sector is currently battling with challenges related to: liquidity, growth of lending activities, performance of loans, increased competition, etc. This has in a way affected their share prices, for those listed banks. So, investors who are heavily exposed in this sector suffers some loses resulting in a potential reduction of profitability (hence lower dividend) as well as lower prices of their shares upon liquidation or upon valuations.

On the contrary, by investing in more than one sector, or in more than a single entity’s shares, you will reduce the potential risk that you may lose a significant amount of money rather your portfolio’s overall returns will be less affected.

Furthermore, it is advisable that you refrain from investing all your money at the same time. In order to protect yourself from the risk of investing all your money at the same time (and in some cases that time might be “the wrong time”, it is recommended that one should follow a consistent pattern of adding new money into their investment over a period of time.

By making regular investments with the same amount of money, there are cases where you will buy more of shares when prices are at low level and less of investment when its price is high — and such a balance may save you better in terms of return on investment.

The other important factor to consider is that as you try to be a keen investor in listed shares, it is fair that you consider rebalancing of your portfolio occasionally, this will help you to minimise or manage a potential situation where your portfolio may look like it has overemphasised on one or few share categories. To achieve the portfolio rebalancing, it is important that you pursue a policy that will normalise your returns to comfortable level, given the risk taken.

Other factors to consider when investing in shares include: (i) determining your investment horizon (such horizon can be categorised as short — when up to a year; medium term, 1-5 years or long term (5+ years); (ii) identifying the industry or sector that you are mostly comfortable with (i.e. you strongly believe in banking, then you could start off with what your research and analysis will indicate as fundamentally strong banks); (iii) dividend history — if your investment objectives is regular income then a company that pays dividends on regular basis should be your portion (if this is the case, you therefore may need to ask these questions: does the company pay regular dividends or not? how attractive is the dividend yield?, etc); (iv) growth history — if your investment horizon is medium to long term and your investment goal is either children’s education or retirement purpose, then it is important for you to consider overemphasise the choice of shares for companies that have a lot of potential to increase their capital value even if yielding less dividend income in the short term; i.e. companies that pays minimum dividends because they are re-investing or retaining their earnings for expansion and future growth.

I hope this helps. But always remember: there is no guarantee whatsoever that you will surely make profits in your investment process.

Mr Moremi Marwa is chief executive officer for the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange PLC.