EOTF sponsors 60 women SMEs to Sabasaba

DAR ES SALAAM: THE Equal Opportunity for All Trust Fund (EOTF) said yesterday they will send 60 entrepreneurs to attend the Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair (DITF) which starts tomorrow.

The EOTF Executive Director Mr Stephen Emmanuel said currently the fund booked 38 booths for women SMEs under the capacity building programme ‘Women in Poverty Eradication’ to market their products.

“We conducted a vetting process from the SMEs applications and checked various requirements such as product quality if they met both national and global standards and got 60,” said Mr Emmanuel yesterday at the closing ceremony of the three-day training.

Also, those selected have quality certificates from the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS).

Last year, the NGO sponsored the same number since most failed to meet the criteria. He said 20 women managed to secure overseas markets through the DITF that is organized by Tantrade every mid-year.

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The products include cashew nuts, batique, beads and natural medicines like coriander which are sold in all of the East African countries, Malawi, Zambia.

Prof Dorcas Kibona, who is a researcher and specialist in natural foods, said EOTF’s entrepreneurship training enabled her to improve and secure markets abroad.

“We sell abroad banana flour, which is good for diabetics and overweight patients, where we have been able to deliver authentic products to the US, Canada and the United Kingdom,” she said.

The event was attended by 250 participants. EOTF has been operating for 27 years and until recently, the fund enabled 6,800 women SMEs to participate at Sabasaba and generated 1.1tri/- in sales.