Business leaders attending the 2nd East African Business and Entrepreneurship Conference and Exhibition that is taking place in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, are devising ways to promote entrepreneurship and attract more foreign and local investments in the region.

Over 300 high-level government and private sector decision-makers from the EAC Partner States as well as business leaders, East African Diaspora and investors from across the region and abroad are attending the conference.

The event, taking place from November 14-16, 2017 and was co-organised by East African Business Council (EABC), Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC), Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF), and the East African Community (EAC).

The EABC says the total value of intra-EAC investment increased by 6.9 per cent to US$254.1 million in 2016 from US$237.8 million in 2015. In 2015, the total value of intra-EAC investment increased by 14.5 per cent from US$ 207.7 million in 2014, the organisation said in a press release issued on Tuesday.

Dennis Karera, the Managing Director of Kigali Heights, an office block in Kigali whose construction was funded by a Kenya-based company called Fusion Capital, lauded efforts by East African companies to invest in the region.

"It is remarkable to see Kenya investing in other EAC countries,” Karera said at the meeting.

It is expected that the conference will offer regional business leaders an opportunity to critically discuss how to encourage entrepreneurship and attract more foreign and local investments into the region.

Participants will also learn about the latest developments in the region and influence future policy measures.

Among delegates at the meeting include key industry experts, business leaders, and relevant public decision makers.

Among other issues, the delegates discussed the current policies and missing links to accelerating industrialisation, innovation, and investment in the EAC.

Established in 1997 to foster interests of the private sector in the integration process of the East African Community, the East African Business Council (EABC) is a top advocacy body of business associations of the private sector and corporations from the bloc’s member states.

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