Overview
Tanzania has undergone an excellent track record of successful Macro-economic and sectoral commitment of the Government under the National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (MKUKUTA) to aggressively pursue the required structural transformation of the economy as well as microeconomic reforms consistent with international experience observed in emerging economies.

It is for this reason that the Government decided to get a World Bank Credit aimed at improving the competitiveness of the Private Sector in Tanzania to enable Tanzania Enterprise to compete effectively in the Global Marketplace. TPSF is implementing component two namely the Enterprise Development programmes of the Private Sector Competitiveness Project (PSCP) established under a single framework called a Joint Assistance Strategy to address some of the key constraints facing the private sector. 

Overall Objective:
The overall objective of the project is to create sustainable conditions for enterprise creation and growth. The project will enable the private sector to respond favorably to potential market opportunities through measures that will ensure a sensible reduction in the cost of doing business, and, among others will improve financial services, expand access of SMEs to skills training, technology, and business development services.The objective of the enterprise development component is to improve the capacity of the private sector to respond to viable opportunities in regional and international markets. This component is implemented by the TPSF supported by international consulting firms who will take charge of four sub-components as per the Project Implementation Manual.

Cluster Competitiveness Project – This project will address the challenge of low SME competitiveness through value chain analysis and building the capacity of selected clusters of firms in key sectors.  It also aims to build the policy formulation capacity of key public and private sector institutions, to sustain the push for a more competitive private sector in Tanzania.  Lastly, it will help ensure that lessons and insights gained from the cluster competitiveness work enriches the policy dialogue between the government and the private sector to improve the enabling environment for private sector growth. The ultimate purpose of the Cluster Competitiveness Project is sustainable increased competitiveness of strategic clusters of Tanzanian private enterprises.

Business School Linkages (BSLP) and the CEO Scholarship Fund - The objective of this subcomponent is to significantly enhance the training capacity of local training institutions and to ensure a sustainable increase in the supply of quality managers in Tanzania by linking global experts in business education with leading Tanzanian business schools, and by providing young government officers with internship opportunities. This program will provide business educators with the expertise and knowledge they can use to train and support Tanzania’s emerging entrepreneurs, managers and government officers. The BSLP will support up to four Tanzanian business and management schools in strengthening their capacity to deliver world-class entrepreneurial, management and business training in Tanzania, as well as talented government officers to gain experience in the private sector.

Business Development Gateway (BDG) – The objective of the Business Development Gateway (BDG) is to strengthen the entrepreneurial culture of Tanzania by providing entrepreneurs with business ideas and start-up firms with risk grants, thereby enabling them to either start or upgrade a business.  To attain this objective, the BDG will grant promising entrepreneurs and enterprises over 500 awards per year, on average, over four years.  The award size will range from risk grants of $1,000 to grants of $15,000.

Matching Grants - The Matching Grants Programme consists of two matching grant schemes, the Tanzania Business Development Scheme (TBDS) and the Technical Innovation Applied Research Scheme (TIAS), both managed under a single management contract housed in TPSF. The TBDS aims at improving the competitiveness of private firms within Tanzania, both in export markets and also in domestic markets. It will provide standard 50% cost-sharing grants to private firms, for the use of outside services & travel, within a properly-formulated business development plan, aimed at improving competitiveness, and thus boosting sales. The TIAS is aimed at developing the marketplace for paid-for services provided by technical institutions & vocational schools.  The main service considered in this scheme is training courses, primarily technical, sold either to individuals or to private firms.