Vice President Ndejembi urged financial institutions and support organizations to prioritize durable businesses and job creation over mere idea testing.
Vice President Deogratius Ndejembi has called on banks, investors, and startup support organizations in Tanzania to shift their focus from the quantity of tested ideas to the quality of businesses that emerge. Speaking at the opening of Tanzania Startup Week 2026 in Dar es Salaam, Ndejembi emphasized that success should be measured by the creation of durable companies, job opportunities, and customer reach, rather than just the number of innovations put through incubation or testing phases.
The five-day event, themed "Building Tanzania’s Startup Economy," brings together various stakeholders to discuss critical aspects of the startup ecosystem, including capital, market access, policy, and job creation. Ndejembi's remarks followed an announcement by NMB Bank, the event's main sponsor, detailing its Sh2 billion allocation for tech startups and the testing of over 300 innovations since 2021. However, the bank reported integrating only six startups into its systems, with a goal to reach 30 by 2030.
Ndejembi acknowledged NMB's initiative but pressed for concrete evidence of disbursed financing and actual business expansion post-support. He identified risk, stemming from businesses lacking conventional collateral, as a significant challenge, rather than a lack of capital. A Ministry of Communication and Information Technology policy document highlights a weak formal finance ecosystem, collateral barriers, and limited investment readiness as obstacles to digital innovation.
Why it mattersInvestors are affected because the Vice President is questioning the effectiveness of capital deployment and highlighting risks that hinder the growth of startups into sustainable businesses.
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