CBE, Finnish varsity to train vendors on use of smartphones in marketing

The College of Business Education (CBE) in collaboration with the University of Eastern Finland, is planning to introduce a training programme on smart phone utilisation to various street vendors in Tanzania to help them market their products.

The programme is expected to be introduced in April next year whereas it will start focusing on one group of street vendors after the other. These groups include food, clothe, shoe, cosmetics vendors.

Speaking to journalists earlier this week in Dar es Salaam, CBE Deputy Rector for Academics, Research and Consultancy.

Dr Abbi Nangawe said that they initiated the programme after a well and carefully done research on its impacts, noting that it was successful in many countries that have applied it.

“If street vendors learn to use smartphones to attract customers by making them aware of their products, then their market share will widen and their incomes will grow,” he said.

Further, he said Finland University is planning to sponsor PhD programmes in Tanzania which will start with CBE courses, adding that by next year the college will also start offering Masters Degree in Business Administration.

For his part, Msami Paul, CBE Deputy Rector for Planning, Finance and Administration outlined the achievements attained by the university in the past 48 years as the increased number of courses whereas in 1965 there was only Business Administration. 
Now five more courses have been added into its programme, including marketing, procurement, accountancy, weights and measures and ICT.

Others include the increase in enrollment from 30 students in 1965 to the current 11, 753, increase of campuses from one located in Dar es Salaam to three others in Dodoma, Mwanza and Mbeya and the introduction of social responsibility works such as giving consultancy to entrepreneurs through the university's Consultancy Bureau.

He also outlined the challenges facing the university to include inadequate and poor facilities at the Dar es Salaam campus which can admit only 600 students.
 
The campus has 7,534 students, while that of Dodoma, with the capacity of accommodating 350 students has 4,500 students.

He mentioned the other challenge as the lack of enough tutors.
 
Meanwhile, the university is planning to construct new buildings for a better learning environment and therefore asks the government to support them financially