A-level results day 2016 sees record number of passes - meaning more students than ever get university place

Students from Victoria College in Belfast receiving their results

A-level students have achieved a record number of passes this year, meaning more will be going to university than ever.
The chief executive of Ucas has said Mary Curnock Cook said 424,000 students will be offered their first or second choice of degree course.
She told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "It's 424,000 placed - the highest ever on A-level results day.
"It's up 3% on last year."
"It does mean that young people now are something like 4% more likely to be going to university because, although the population was down a bit this year we've actually seen a rise in the numbers, so that's really good news."

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However the government has warned that universities could face losing their fees if they do not maintain good standards.
As part of a drive to "wipe out mediocre teaching", Universities Minister Jo Johnson outlined a plan that includes allowing the best institutions to raise fees in line with inflation, while penalising those with flagging standards.

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Universities have been warned they will have to maintain standards to get their fees

Mr Johnson also announced the creation of a new watchdog tasked with rooting out inequality in the system, with universities forced to publish data on their students' backgrounds.
The proposals were first tabled in a White Paper in May, although the minister gave more detail in an article for The Telegraph as the next crop of school leavers received their A-level results.

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It's a nervous morning for young people across the country

"Anyone making the big investment in their future that comes with a degree has a right to expect big returns on it, whichever institution they attend. Graduates earn, on average, £9,500 a year more than non-graduates, and will pick up life skills, friendships and confidence that will benefit them for life," Mr Johnson said.
"But there is an unacceptable patchiness that requires our attention and, if we are to make sure our university system retains its world-leading status, we simply cannot stand still.

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More students will be going to university than ever

"In my past year as Universities Minister I've seen our higher education system at its best, driving innovation, nurturing debate and helping everyone, whatever their background, go as far as their talents will take them.
"However, I've also seen troubling signs that the system is falling short of its potential and failing to deliver what students, employers and taxpayers require from it. That's why this year I have set out important reforms to the higher education system."

Firm happy with TZ ban on coal imports

Johannesburg. Aim-listed Edenville Energy is mulling its options to leverage the opportunity the Tanzanian government’s immediate ban on coal imports provides the Rukwa coal-to-power project developer.

Last week, Tanzania’s Ministry of Energy and Minerals banned the import of coal to stimulate local commercial production of the country’s resources and encourage internal use of the commodity to unlock the potential of the local coal industry to fully develop.

While Edenville is well positioned to move its Rukwa project rapidly into production, an effort that remains a core focus, the ban has presented a significant near-term opportunity for coal sales and the company is reviewing its options to contribute. “The company, through its Tanzanian subsidiary, holds a mining licence over its Mkomolo deposit and can also source coal from primary mining licences in the nearby Namwele deposit, where mining has previously occurred,” Edenville said in an update to shareholders yesterday. The company is currently reviewing several obtained quotations for mining and associated infrastructure work at the project site. (miningweekly.com)

Lugalo club shines bright at Fiddle tourney

Shabani Kibuna of Lugalo Club stole the show on Saturday as he snatched the Weekly Fiddle golf tournament title with a convincing victory at the Lugalo Club.

Kibuna walked home with the top prize after outsmarting a host of big name golfers in Division A, including Brand Michael and Mohabe Nyirabu.

Playing off handicap- 8, the golfer, who showed some fabulous skills, fired eight over 36 points at the 18-hole tournament.

Michael, who was tipped to take the battle for the title with the victor to the wire, managed just 31 points, thus settling for the second spot.

Speaking ecstatically after the tournament, Kibuna said: “My composure paid off, I am really happy with this win because it was tough considering the quality of golfers who were there.

“I am satisfied with the way I played. My score on Saturday was impressive and that’s why I finished at the top of the pack,” he said.

The golfer added: “Even when I was playing well I couldn’t relax because Michael was playing so well. The competition was really tight, but I just enjoyed playing with my friends.”

The 18-hole stable ford tournament saw Joseph Tairo, who was playing off handicap 12, take the B Division title after carding 36 points followed by Boniface Nyiti with 35 points.

Nade Magwe was the winner of the C Division with 30 points, eclipsing Prayoon Pongtrakul who took the second position after returning 27 points.

Up-and-coming Sophie Mathias was the heroine in the ladies event with 32 points, eclipsing Amina Hamis who took the second position after carding 24 points.

“I dropped several shots today [Saturday] especially at the par three eleventh hole. That really cost me the points,” she said.

“Right now I have a desire to become the best golfer in the country, so I want to concentrate on training and just try to win the forthcoming tournaments,” she added.

"STOP FUNDING TANZANIAN GOVERNMENT", THATS A MESSAGE FROM ABROAD TANZANIAN CITIZENS...

Passed on to the streets here in Washington DC in the neighborhood of colombia and 18th STREET [adams morgan]. I found there are posters and Matagazo about bullying carried out by the CCM in Tanzania. It is a picture of women mwangozi, killing morogoro, murder in pressed, and Arusha. I have seen many people say this is not the land of peace Tanzania is from where again?.

ECONOMOIC:JK calls for support of SMEs, investment

At the Global Smart Partnership dialogue, one of the most significant highlights was an impassioned call by President Jakaya Kikwete on the role of governments and society to support Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

At the dialogue, President Kikwete urged African leaders to invest in science education and training of indigenous masses that can ultimately assist in finding home-grown, practical solutions to challenges that confront the African continent. He said societies that had anchored science and technology into development programmes had succeeded in finding solutions to their challenges, including fast tracking development in various areas.

“Invest more in our youth, this is their time, if we invest more in the youth, Africa will have a future in science and technology,” the President said. He said three years ago, his government had invested in incubators and so far they had succeeded in creating some products, giving an example of Maxi Malipo, which had already gone beyond the borders.

Similar thoughts have been held in reports by the Small Industries Development Organisation (SIDO), the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), the Confederation of Tanzania Industries (CTI), the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF), the World Bank and the Investment Climate Facility (IFC).

Similarly, in one of his writings, former secretary-general of the East African Community, Dr Juma Mwapachu, on how to forge an entrepreneurial spirit, he expounds more on a critical factor for broadening the base of SMEs and which catapults greater wealth and job creation. “In my view, such an entrepreneurship spirit would have to be built and cultivated through the education system, much in the same way that the school curriculum on citizenship has been able to engender a powerful culture of civic responsibility in some countries, Tanzania included, and I have in mind, in this case, during Mwalimu Julius Nyerere’s leadership,” he said.

That a successful promotion of SMEs must, therefore, proceed through an education system that deliberately cultivates an enterprise culture. But he quips that there are some challenges facing SMEs.

To him, a general perception in the financial sector that lending or provision of capital to SMEs is risky business due to a number of reasons: High mortality rates of SME businesses, poorly prepared business proposals, the lack of reliable collateral, suspect management capabilities and skills and obscure historical records of SME operations.

It would be necessary, in enhancing the role of SMEs in African economies such as Tanzania, to develop exclusive stock exchanges for SMEs. The East African Community (EAC) must give its SME opportunities to enable them to thrive in a bid to make them contribute more meaningfully to the region’s economic growth.

It is the same reason the Nation Media Group started the top 100 mid-sized companies’ survey, after arriving at the conclusion that SMEs were important drivers of the economy capable of pushing up development.

The top 100 mid-sized companies’ survey aims at identifying and recognising the fastest growing mid-sized companies and attracted over 200 companies compared to last year’s 120 participants. The initiative is the brainchild of Mwananchi Communications Ltd (MCL) through The Citizen and KPMG Tanzania.

The initiative – founded in 2011 – recognises and identifies Tanzania’s fastest growing mid-sized companies (quality growth); emerging industry leaders; prosperity creators (wealth and job creators) and the new business role models and mentors. Through the results of this survey, investors, financiers and policy makers are able to make better and informed decisions related to the growth of the economy. The noble idea is to be appreciated in the corporate sector and government circles for promoting and spurring growth of the sector of SMEs in the country.

Apart from being major employers, SMEs contribute significantly in wealth generation through harnessing local resources and using simple technologies. Through business linkages, partnerships and subcontracting relationships, SMEs have the potential to complement large industries requirements

The same survey, two years ago, noted that 92 per cent of the country’s medium-sized firms support EAC integration. Of over 200 firms, 52 per cent said they wholeheartedly support EAC integration and 40 per cent said they support it to some extent. Only nine per cent does not support it at all.

It is estimated that SMEs contributed over 30 per cent to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), which is the generation of wealth in the national economy.

According to the minister for Industry and Trade, Dr Abdallah Kigoda, Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) should provide necessary technical assistance to SMEs and ensure that their products are certified to enable them to flourish across sophisticated markets. “The biggest challenge facing SMEs is packaging. Without quality packaging they cannot sell,” says Dr Kigoda, adding that it is upon TBS to give the SMEs the packaging know-how and also to ensure that their products are certified.

The minister noted the role of TBS is crucial more especially now, when the nation is undergoing reforms in industrial, commercial, marketing and economic sectors. He said as the private sector becomes the engine for economic growth, standardisation gains more importance in the future and sustainability of the country’s economy.

SMEs in Tanzania are playing a critical role in the economic growth, progression of technological innovation, sourcing to large industries and promoting economic renewal and social development. The importance of SMEs in economy cannot be underestimated because SMEs are the main driving force in the successful fight against poverty, expansion in the national economy, foundation of employment and social uplifting.

About three in 10 or 28 per cent of the firms surveyed last year said they are considering listing on the Dar es Salaam bourse, which now has a special segment dubbed Growth Enterprise Market Segment (GEMS) for SMEs.

Of these, 49 per cent of the firms mostly in manufacturing, ICT, transport and construction industries plan to list at the bourse within the next two to three years.

The cash-related constraints have hampered expansion of SMEs, forcing most of them to operate single branches.

Therefore, the government and the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) need to further improve the financial sector infrastructure and provide a more conducive and enabling environment for SMEs in Tanzania, so as to strengthen the concept and applications of intellectual capital for achieving a competitive edge in the market for the country, the region and beyond the African continent.

The author is an advocate and the managing partner of Kibuukalawchambers. He can be reached at paul.kibuuka@kibuukalaw.com.

ECONOMIC: I turned my side job into a high-flying travel firm

Had Shirley Nailantei stuck to her community’s culture, she would have got married at 14.

Traditionally, Maasai girls are circumcised between the ages of 11 and 13 and soon get married to men chosen by their fathers in exchange for cattle and cash.

But tradition could not derail her ambitions. “My parents were keen on education. They never tied themselves to punitive traditions and wanted to see me go to school and become successful,” says Ms Nailantei who is a trained marketer.

Now sitting in her office located in one of Nairobi’s leafy suburbs, she oozes confidence and optimism, with her love of books clearly evident in her neat well-furnished office.

“I am an avid reader,’’ she says, glancing at a Cindy Trimm book Commanding Your Morning that is lying on a table.

Ms Nailantei boasts 3,000 clients under her travel company, Convette Group, which she founded in 2007.

“I established this firm while working for a flower firm, Preesman Company. It was a side job to supplement my earnings and none of my employers knew about its existence,’’ Ms Nailantei, 32, told Business Daily in an interview last week in her office at the plush Riverside area.

Operating from home

“At Convette Group, we provide both local and international clients with the best leisure and business travel arrangements across the world. We merge industry and leisure destinations to give it a complete package. We also provide visa procurement and consultancy services, local and international hotel reservations, customised holiday packages, flight reservations and ticketing among other services.”

Convette Group was started with a capital of Sh10, 000 as registration fees. She started operating from her house because she could not then afford office rent.
As her business grew she started marketing it online, backed by referrals from the initial clients she had managed to bring on board.

“This taught me the value of patience and the importance of offering quality services no matter how small your business is. If people discover the uniqueness of what you are selling them, they will always come to you no matter the cost or even the location of your business,’’ says Ms Nailantei.

In 2008, she resigned from her job and left for South Africa to look for business. She wanted to give her newly found enterprise a global outlook.

“I wanted to create linkages and give my company both local and international touch,’’ she says.

But it has not been an easy ride. The challenges have been inevitable if not insurmountable.

“When I started, we used to make hotel bookings for our clients through our own savings. Initially, they could pay on time but the trend changed and the bills could accumulate for months without a single penny coming in.’’

She says those were the lowest moments in the business that almost saw her close down. “I had taken a huge loan from a bank to sustain both the business and my employees with the hope of quick profit but that was not forthcoming,’’ she says.

An office at last

Ms Nailantei recalls how the banks were making visits everyday with threats of legal action yet the payments were late. She was then dealing with retail shop directors travelling abroad to look for business.

“I first dropped the corporate clients and started dealing with individual customers who were not very demanding, ’’ says Ms Nailantei.

The trick worked and led to a remarkable change of fortune that enabled her to secure an office in Nairobi’s Westlands suburb and employ five people mainly in marketing. She sent the marketing team to various parts of the country.

“Today, we have marketing agents in South Africa, Ghana, the United Kingdom and Dubai,’’Ms Nailantei says she has set her sights on bigger markets abroad to tap rising demand by tourists and business travellers seeking quality but affordable travel and accommodation.

Convette Group also handles families and groups who require quality hotel accommodation in major world cities for leisure or business trips. Locally, they deal with Sarova Hotels, Tribe, and Diani among others and boasts a budget for all travellers.

“We normally charge the client a service fee that is determined by the standard of the hotel, apart from getting a commission from the hotels we source for the clients on their behalf,’’ said Ms Nailantei.

Most of her customers come from Nigeria, South Africa, US and the United Kingdom.

Pressed to say how much the company makes per month as a profit, Ms Nailantei was rather guarded on the figures.

“We are doing well in terms of profit and customer base given our office rent alone is Sh160,000. I am running a sustainable business,’’ she said.

“Healthy competition shapes the industry and increases quality of service. We are also abreast of emerging trends in the sector,’’ says the young lady whose steely determination has seen her rise to the top in the competitive hospitality industry.

INDUSTRY:Who’s the spoiler in the manufacturing sector?

The other day, the minister for Industry and Trade, Dr. Abdallah Kigoda, was calling for identification of hurdles hampering the country’s manufacturing sector (http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/News/Kigoda-calls-for-fresh-impetus-for-industry/-/1840392/2200966/-/item/1/-/fsjs3ez/-/index.html).

It is an old story, and the answers have been there for all to see - written on the wall. Just ask Confederation of Tanzania Industries (CTI) about the piles of research studies in their possession on the subject.

Going back to the first phase government, many manufacturing plants were opened with good plans, but only a few survive today.

It was incredible that for many such plants, there was enough demand for what they were producing, and yet, many of them “died” or got bankrupt. In the heydays of those state companies, it was said that bosses of some parastatals were more often than not, more powerful than public service technocrats. And we expected the China miracle from that set-up!

We have many people alive today, who were managing state companies that went under or were privatized. Someone should get their story so that we can identify the common denominator.

The china model, which Mwalimu Julius Nyerere was following in establishing the state corporations has turned that country into an economic giant, and some experts predict that it is just a matter of time before it overtakes the United States of America, as the largest and most power economy in the world.

If Mwalimu Nyerere’s dream about industrialization had come true, Tanzania would be the largest economy in the region, feeding Africa and the world with manufactured products. But as they say, if only wishes were horses, beggars could ride.

People operating industries in Tanzania need to have a heart of stone. The cost of production is very high, thanks to expensive and unreliable power from Tanesco. A good number of manufactured goods, especially from China and Kenya, are often sold at a lower rate, than similar goods produced locally. Then, how can one ask where the devil lies?

Some of the best known manufacturers have grown through thick and thin. We need to ask local industrialists like Said Salim Bakhresa and Mohammed Dewji how they have made it in our environment which has been described many times as not supportive to industries.

I don’t believe that Dr Kigoda does not know why our manufacturing sector is limping. Maybe, he just wanted to get their perception. The truth is, the ministry for Industry and Trade knows exactly what should be done. It holds meetings with stakeholders.

It knows what is the best for Tanzania’s business to grow. It knows the business environment must be improved. If we are serious, when we say that the private sector is the driver of the economy, then its footprints must be felt in all other ministries, which at the moment puts breaks to improved business environment. There is need to revisit the Sustainable Industrial Development Policy (SIDP) 1996-2020. Considering that 2020 is so near, has SIDP really worked when as a nation we are way off in consolidating the existing industrial capacities? We have failed to develop competitive advantage for agro-allied industries and trucks with Kenyans still go to our farms, to purchase produce that is often processed by our neighbours.

Vision 2025 envisions a Tanzania that has become semi-industrialized by 2025 where the industry can account for over 40 per cent of the GDP. At the moment available statistics indicate, in 2012 it accounted for 24.1 per cent, and this includes construction. Nothing dramatic has happened to change the situation for the better. Mr. Minister, we are long way off the mark…. na sijui mchawi ni nani hapa (I don’t know who is the witch here).