Women entrepreneurs advised to learn English for Somali, S.Sudan markets

Tanzanian women entrepreneurs have been urged to learn English so they can be able to tap business opportunities in South Sudan, Somalia including other East Africa region countries.

This was said in Dar es Salaam by
Senior Operations Officer of the International Finance Corporation- World Bank (IFC-World Bank) Zahia Lolila during the joint discussion between women entrepreneurs from South Sudan Chamber of Women Entrepreneurs, Somalia Women Chamber of Commerce and TWCC.

“Learn English and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) because right now you can export your products to South Sudan and Somalia where there is huge market for agricultural products from Tanzania,” she said.

Apart from that they are not doing agricultural activities because of the war; they just depend on imported goods.

Learning English will help entrepreneurs easily communicate with businesspersons thus establish business ties with them. 

On ICT, she said: “If you need to be part of the world, you need to learn ICT because right now the sector is growing fast and as an entrepreneur you will be required at some point to use the system to market your produce.

“We can’t move without this technology, otherwise we will continue lagging behind for the business we have and failure to tap into regional and global market,” she said.

According to her, ICT helps entrepreneurs to research market prices and improve their products through fast communication with their customers. 

For her part, Senior Gender Advisor and Founder of Puntland Women Writers Association (PWWA) Sahro Koshin who was in Tanzania for three days accompanied by two entrepreneurs from Somalia said they came to Tanzania to learn the business opportunities available. Somalia set up various projects and move where they are.

“Thank you very much for welcoming us to Tanzania. We are here to learn from your experiences in entrepreneurship as we are planning to establish chamber of women entrepreneurs in Somalia so that they can engage in different projects,” she said.

She added:”The knowledge that we have obtained from TWCC is very helpful. We will emulate what you’re doing in Somalia to help create more jobs for youth and women in Somalia. 

Despite the high rate of conflicts In Mogadishu, women are very strong and conduct their businesses so as to provide for their families.