JICA Rwanda Office / ABE Initiative Crossover in Tanzania

Since 2014, JICA Rwanda Office has dispatched 63 participants of ABE Initiatives to Japan, to help building a sustainable business partnership between Rwanda and Japan. Since it has become high time to develop a new network in East Africa, JICA Rwanda Office decided to dispatch a team of ABE ex-participants to Tanzania, to Crossover together.

The Crossover Team from Rwanda consists of 7 ABE Initiative ex-participants and 3 staffs from JICA Rwanda Office, visited Tanzania from 10th to 14th of December.

Group photo

The objective was to build a new network of ABE ex-participants between Rwanda and Tanzania, and to learn good practices and business knowledges from Tanzania which would enhance sustainability for ABE Initiative towards the future.

Thanks to kind reception and intensive arrangements by the JICA Tanzania Office, the Crossover Team from Rwanda visited 4 private companies in Dar es Salaam which ABE ex-participants were managing the business. They were managing business such as manufacturing leather and coconut oil, providing quality pictures as a professional photographer and a logistic company of e-commerce. The Crossover Team also visited the Tanzania Investment Center (TIC) to understand the investment and business environment of Tanzania.

We learned that business opportunity is a creation of passion and capacity. The skills and experience obtained in Japan by the ABE Initiative has been contributing to their business development in Tanzania. The ABE Crossover from Rwanda to Tanzania was successful and we are encouraged to expand this network and communication of ABE ex-participants to involve the other East African countries, to keep supporting the activity of ABE Ex-participants after their return to the country.

Slides below are the summary of visits in Tanzania. We manage to learn that the experience and skills obtained through ABE Initiative is very valuable and as long as one keeps the passion to challenge something new, there is opportunity for business to contribute for the Country in the end.