THE government through Tanzania National Business Council (TNBC) ICT Working Group has called on Tanzanians to get prepared for implementation of a digital economy plan to smoothly align with global demands driving economic transformation.

Mohamed Abdulla, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Communication and Information Technology who is TNBC working Group Chairman, has said that embracing digital technology would   significantly drive economic growth and stimulate rapid growth of sectors of the economy such as agriculture, trade and tourism.

 Speaking in Dar es Salaam shortly after the group meeting at the weekend, Abdulla said there was need for more emphasis on leveraging internet for businesses to simplify service access and accelerate economic growth.

“During our meeting, we discussed implementation steps of digital economy plan through cooperation between the government and private sector,” he said, noting that the government under was committed to implementation of digital economy.

He said members discussed recommendations on implementation and how to monitor and evaluate digital economy plan to enable stakeholders review them as part of preparing for the plan's execution.

“The government is all out to make Tanzania a leading digital economy and enhance our global competitiveness,” he said, calling for all Tanzanians to join hands to embrace digital economy.

“We now see progress in accessing services; one can now purchase goods and services from home digitally. We want to reach that level with other services to ease daily life.”

The group co-chairperson Jackline Uiso from the private sector stressed the significance of digital transformation in communication sector, saying it could drive growth across industries as part of the plan’s strategy.

 She noted that the 10-year strategy includes guidelines for each sector to prepare for the economic changes and that Tanzania’s financial sector was thriving, adding that the focus must shift to integrating other sectors such as agriculture, health, media, construction, and education into the digital economy to fully capitalise on available opportunities.

Dr Godwill Wanga, TNBC’s Executive Secretary, said the meeting involved various stakeholders who approved recommendations for the way forward and that the group’s experts would  visit each sector to ensure the plan is well known, provide education and encourage implementation.

Dr Nkundwe  Mwasaga, a member of the working group and  the Director General of the ICT Commission, said  the strategic plan would focus on what actions to take to achieve the set goals. 

“One of the plans include educating citizens and ensuring that payments for various services are made online to achieve the objectives,” Dr Mwasaga said.

Additionally, he said it aims to ensure that all economic sectors are digital and systems work together to allow every Tanzanian to have a digital number to aid in accessing services, with informal sector contributing to the economy and implementing a ‘community payment’ system to simplify transactions.