The environmental sector in Tanzania offers significant economic and business opportunities, but remains underutilised because some people, particularly young people and women, are not fully aware of the opportunities available, Grina Foundation Executive Director Redemptus Caesar has said.
Mr Caesar made the remarks yesterday in Dar es Salaam while speaking at the Tanzania Green Summit 2026 at the Mlimani City Conference Centre, where environmental and business stakeholders are meeting to discuss investment and business opportunities in the sector.
He said the summit seeks to create a platform for Tanzanians, particularly young people and women, to understand and take advantage of economic opportunities available in the environmental sector.
“The environmental sector carries significant economic potential and many business opportunities, but some of us still view it as a sector without economic benefits,” he said.
Mr Caesar said the idea of establishing the Tanzania Green Summit was driven by the need to increase public awareness of such opportunities.
He said this is the second edition of the summit, following the inaugural event held last year at Serena Hotel in Dar es Salaam.
His participation in various international forums, he said, had shown him that young people in some African countries were increasingly taking advantage of business opportunities emerging from the environmental sector because of greater awareness and sensitisation.
“It is important to see how we can create a bigger platform in the country that can generate greater awareness among young people and enable them to see the opportunities on a larger scale,” he said.
According to Mr Caesar, this year's summit has been organised on a larger scale, bringing together entrepreneurs, investors, financial institutions, international organisations and companies seeking to invest in businesses aimed at protecting the environment.
He said 20 institutions with financial resources had been included in the summit, including financial institutions and international organisations that could provide investment and partnership opportunities to people with business ideas in the environmental sector.
“We have included 20 institutions with financial resources. We have selected financial institutions, international organisations with funding and companies interested in investing in businesses that support our environment,” he said.
Mr Caesar urged participants to use the two-day summit to build relationships with stakeholders, explore partnership opportunities and gain new ideas that could help grow their businesses.
“Make sure you leave with a new contact, make sure you leave with a deal, and also make sure you leave with a new business idea,” he said.
He said the strong response from stakeholders was a sign that awareness and interest in the economic opportunities available in the environmental sector were growing in the country.
Mr Caesar also thanked journalists, various stakeholders and the Government, particularly the Vice President’s Office, for continuing to support efforts to promote and develop business opportunities related to the environment.
Meanwhile, CRDB Bank Chief Executive Officer Abdulmajid Nsekela said the Tanzania Green Summit had become a platform bringing together the Government, private sector, investors, financial institutions, innovators, development partners and communities to build an environmentally sustainable economy.
He said CRDB had raised approximately Sh101.8 billion through a green bond, with the funds directed towards climate-smart agriculture, renewable energy, clean cooking energy, clean transport, energy efficiency and aquaculture projects.
Mr Nsekela said the bank had also been working with stakeholders to increase access to climate finance, including through a climate-resilient agriculture programme that had directly reached more than 26,000 beneficiaries and approximately 480,000 indirect beneficiaries across 27 regions.
For her part, United Nations representative Suzan Ngongi said African countries were at a critical stage of implementing their development plans and should ensure that environmental plans and ideas were translated into investments, businesses, infrastructure and jobs.
She said a major challenge was increasing the number of projects capable of attracting financing and connecting innovators with capital, markets and supportive policies so that environmental ideas could generate economic, social and environmental impact.