REPORTS that Tanzania is the most favourite investment destination in East Africa is good news and worth celebrating.
And according to a just released Rand Merchant Bank's (RMB) 2013 Global Investment Banking Report, Tanzania is also among the top ten investment destinations of choice by investors in the African continent.
The creation of conducive environment to support business growth is one of the top priorities of the government, which has resolved to promote private investments for the country's economic prosperity.
We have, in recent years, witnessed the government and private sector executing a number of strategies towards improving the business and investment environment in the country.
The past perception of private investors as exploiters, tax evaders, thieves and looters of public resources has long gone - and instead, investors are being embraced as the engine of economic growth.
The government adoption of a roadmap to improve business environment for investment in 2010, with ten areas for modification in policies, legal framework and administration, speaks volumes of the state's willingness to attract investors, both from within and outside the country.
Determined to fast-track the elimination of all snags frustrating investors and business people in the country, the government established the Business Environment Strengthening for Tanzania (BEST), a special programme to improve business and investment environment.
So, the new report findings simply confirm what the government's strides to turn Tanzania into the investment destination of choice in the world have achieved.
While we proudly congratulate the government for the triumph, we wish to remind some individuals within the system who still impede, instead of facilitating businesses, particularly small ones. True, Tanzania needs foreign investments to develop economically.
But, of equal importance also are indigenous small entrepreneurs who need care and support towards becoming giant investors with immense contributions to the national economy in terms of employment to the citizens and taxes to the government.
Unfortunately, complaints over mistreatments of small businesses at the hands on government officials at the local governments, however, remain rife. Securing business licence, title deeds and building permits is difficult not due to the legal framework, but simply individually created bureaucracies to encourage corruption.
The country's impressive score in the RMB report should serve as a stimulus for the country to work even harder to achieve the best as far as investors' attractiveness is concerned. Yes, we have attempted, but we have not attained our best - we still have room to improve further.
