Small and Medium Industrial Development Agency (SMIDA) - Tanzania

Quick information guide

Importance of VSLAs

Village Savings and Loans Associations play an important role by:

Providing a nearby trustworthy financial institution that allows members to save and borrow money for their small businesses
Helping women entrepreneurs to learn from peers when it comes to doing business
Allowing members to instantly respond to emergencies

How can VSLAs be leveraged on for economic growth?

For VSLAs to be profitable, members need to:

Invest in capacity building such in financial literacy, mentorship, etc
Ensure good leadership for financial and behaviour control
Explore and invest into profitable income generating activities

Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs) in Tanzania

Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs) are groups of people (maximum 30) commonly formed by poor target communities to provide sustainable and profitable micro finance services such as micro servings, micro-credits, micro insurance and many others.

In Tanzania, the VSLAs started in 2000 and ever since they have been evolving. To date the VSLAs have become popular in the remote areas of Tanzania where they constitute alternatives to formal financial services.

Small Industries Development Organization (SIDO)

SIDO runs capacity building programmes aiming to enhance women's capacity in a number of areas

World Vision International Tanzania (WVT)

WVIT provides capacity building in different areas that include VSLAs formation, record keeping, entrepreneurship etc...

Small and Medium Industrial Development Agency (SMIDA)

ABOUT SMIDA	The Agency has the mandate among other things, to design and implement Micro, Small and Medium Industrial development support programs, to promote the creation and development of Micro, Small and Medium industries and to advise, coordinate, monitor and evaluate activities of micro, small and medium industries. The Agency also provides training packages to persons engaged in employment or to be employed in Micro, Small and Medium industries.
Kind of Support provided	Capacity building on understanding SMIDA Concepts of Entrepreneurship Concepts of Productivity Concepts of Industrialization Concept of Business Concept of Packaging Record Keeping Business and Financial Management
Enrolment criteria	Applicants who are interested in starting SME Applicants must have a factory or location used for production activity Must be registered by BPRA Must have certificate from ZFDA that verify safety of the products produced. Must have quality logo from ZBS Must have barcode
Associated Costs	Fee Payments: All courses are free of charge. Location: at all districts Frequency: Weekly
Additional Services	SMIDA provide loan up to 57,000,000/- for entrepreneurs especially women who have business license and own an SME factory Events organized by SMIDA SMIDA organize Juakali exhibition every year in Zanzibar.
Contacts	SMIDA P.O.Box 1996, Maruhubi Industrial Area, Zanzibar Tel: +255 24 22 32880 Email: info@smida.go.tz Website: www.smida.go.tz