Tanzania's women fuel brain gain

By Daniel Dickinson
In Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Ms Mashibe returned to Tanzania to make a difference

An executive jet taxis off the runway at Dar es Salaam international airport.

Aboard could be Thabo Mbeki, the South African president, a director of the mining conglomerate De Beers or a party of big game hunters flying in from Switzerland.

Whoever steps off this plane will be met by Susan Mashibe, the director of Tanzanite Jet Services, a company which specialises in meeting all the technical and bureaucratic needs of visiting private jets.

Ms Mashibe, who at 31 is already a commercial pilot and aviation engineer, set up the company 2 years ago.

She is one of a growing number of young Tanzanian women who have returned from living abroad to do business in the country of their birth, prompting speculation that the country is enjoying brain gain rather than suffering from brain drain.

Quality of life

Ms Mashibe spent 10 years training and working in the American mid-west.

We have competitive markets and young people especially are realising that this is a land of opportunity Amabalis Batamula, managing editor of the lifestyle magazine Femina

"I was curious to come back home to see if I could make a difference in Tanzania," she says, looking out at the airport's runway from her small office.

"There are good business opportunities here and I think I can make the most of them."

She is not alone.

There is anecdotal evidence that an increasing number of young women are bringing their hard-earned money into Tanzania to establish new businesses.

Other reasons returnees give for coming home is patriotism or family ties. But some also cite a better quality of life as a reason. Many of Tanzania's newly rich enjoy beach-side villas, four-wheel-drive cars and plenty of servants.

Skills

These young women - who, it must be said, are largely from elite Tanzanian families - are returning to a country which is enjoying rapid economic growth, spurred on by the government's liberalisation of business.

Ms Kessi says the bureaucracy in Tanzania makes life hard

The Tanzania Investment Centre, which monitors inward investment, believes there is a trend of young women returning to set up businesses, a trend which is bringing in up to $2m (£1.08m) a year. Director Emmanuel Ole Naiko, says, these women entrepreneurs will help to boost the economy.

"We are trying to revive entrepreneurship in Tanzania and these women are going to bring the skills they have learnt abroad and pass them onto other people," he says.

"We believe that this really is going to be a brain gain."

Respect

Another young business woman who is enjoying success is Rachel Kessi, the director of Mawazo, an art gallery she opened in downtown Dar es Salaam two years ago.

Ms Kessi has lived most of her life in Switzerland, but traded in teaching English for selling art to expatriates and the burgeoning Tanzanian middle class. Business is booming, but the red tape has sometimes been as complex and intricate as the wooden carvings sold at Mawazo.

"There is a huge amount of bureaucracy involved in setting up a business, which is very time consuming," she says.

"As a woman, I'm also sometimes not taken seriously, so if I need something official doing quickly I will send along an older man, who commands more respect."

Land of opportunity

Despite the difficulties, Tanzania is moving in a new dynamic direction, at least in business, according to Amabalis Batamula, managing editor of the lifestyle magazine Femina.

"A lot has changed in Tanzania in the area of business and development. We have changed from the years of socialism to a different era now," she says.

"We have competitive markets and young people especially are realising that this is a land of opportunity."