The Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) has trained 33 traditional leaders, elders and prominent women from 11 wards within the conservation area on entrepreneurship, seeking to help communities turn local opportunities into sustainable sources of income.
The training is aimed at equipping participants with practical business skills and helping them identify emerging economic opportunities in and around their communities.
NCAA Senior Assistant Commissioner for Community Services, Ms Gloria Bideberi, said the programme was intended to give community leaders knowledge they could use to guide residents towards productive economic activities.
“We want to ensure that these community members acquire adequate knowledge and are able to visit different production areas to gain practical experience,” Ms Bideberi said.
She said the classroom sessions would be followed by learning visits to production facilities, where participants would see first-hand how raw materials are processed, products developed and taken to consumers.
Among the facilities to be visited is Tanga Fresh dairy processing plant in Tanga, where participants will learn about dairy production, value addition and access to markets.
The approach is intended to move beyond theoretical entrepreneurship training by exposing participants to businesses that have developed products from production to the market.
For communities living within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, the training is also part of wider efforts to strengthen household incomes while promoting their participation in sustainable development.
NCAA said strengthening entrepreneurship skills among community members would enable them to identify and make better use of available economic opportunities while diversifying their sources of income.