Africa as a continent can only move forward when its leaders consciously decide to implement policies that benefit their individual countries as a whole. The Karanga shoe factory in Tanzania is under refurbishment, and it will create much needed jobs.

Tanzania’s President Pombe Magufuli has shown that he is a step ahead of other African heads of state by implementing part of his industrialization vision. The Karanga Shoe factory was refurbished at the cost of $24,296,672. The factory is set to produce 1.2 million shoes and 900,000 soles annually. This could as well be a huge step forward in job creation and self-reliance and the end of shoe importation for Tanzania.

Dr Phillip Mpango, Tanzania’s minister for Finance said, “It is a great privilege to visit the construction site of this leather factory, because we see on the ground, the government’s vision of becoming an industrialized country starting to take shape.”

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The multi-billion project is expected to be completed by December next year and is set to boost the Tanzanian economy. Tanzania is the second largest animal rearing country in east Africa and will be able to supply the demand from the factory.

Magufuli, nicknamed ‘the Bulldozer’ has continued to show Tanzanians that leadership is about the will to fully implement policies. In a continent where many of the factories and mines are either shut down or have been outsourced to foreign companies, Tanzania is certainly on the right path and a model to follow.

There is no doubt about the fact that many African countries import products they could produce themselves, turning the continent to a dumping ground for inferior goods or used clothes. Rwanda’s Paul Kagame’s recent ban on used clothes from the U.S. has earned him condemnation from the West and praises from home. The importance of building our own factories, churning out our own goods and trading amongst ourselves as African countries can’t be emphasized.

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The narrative of Africa rising is mere rhetoric if the effort towards making the continent develop isn’t put into it. Hopefully many more heads of state will follow Magufuli and Kagame’s stance on supporting initiatives producing homemade products.