Empowering communities to trade without challenges across borders.

At a vantage point in Muhange Village on the Tanzanian side, you can clearly see thatched houses and farmlands of a Burundi community in Cancuzo province across a small valley. Few of them have corrugated iron roofs like the ones on the Tanzanian village. These communities share a long history together, despite a border separating them. The communities used to have a common market which can be described as nothing more than an unpleasant location for rural auctions, surrounded by heavy bushes and tracks. The old location became too muddy during rainy season making the area susceptible to communicable disease outbreaks. It was also notorious for regular armed robberies and insecurity to traders and these communities. Trade was a risky undertaking, especially for women who bore the brunt of the unsanitary and insecure conditions at the open air market.

Market modernization initiative

Cross border trade among these two largely farming rural communities is the lifeblood of their existence, far from bustling urban and peri-urban centres. UNCDF recognized the potential at the market and thus invested in the modernisation of this cross-border market integrating security, immigration, tax and all other social amenities. For years, the people of Muhange on the Tanzanian side of the border provided solace to many Burundians escaping insecurity in their communities. But, with the establishment of the Muhange cross border market, this connection has turned into a socioeconomic opportunity.

Esther Jacob Njani is the Manager at Muhange Cross-border Market.

She says:

“This market ran as a registered business with name Kakonko Tujikomboe Company. As a manager here, I’m responsible of all facility operations – security, cleanliness, and,most importantly, revenue generation. I look at all the dynamics and identify challenges that impede our facility’s revenue generation. As a team we always work together towards improvement. Before this new facility, we used to operate from a spot right on the border of Tanzania and Burundi. It was dirty, without any amenities, there was so much insecurity and traders used to lose a lot of their merchandise. During rainy season, a trading day would be cut shot by even slightest showers and people would leave. But now with this big building with everything inside we can trade all the time we want, come rain or sunshine”.

She adds that the facility is self-sufficient with all requirements including storage space for lease, retailing stalls and this has improved revenue generation compared to previous open-air market. “All these improvements have contributed in facilitating the markets operations and hence steadily increasing revenue. This results in building our local community economy here.

Supporting growth of MSMEs and the local economy

Brown John Munyogwa is a flour milling entrepreneur with Kiogazi Milling Centre, producers of Kakonko Super Sembe maize flour.

He says:

“We are located in Kakonko town and our main focus when we established this business was the Burundi market. We produce maize meal and pack in 5, 25 and 50kg bags. Before this modern market, finding buyers for our products was very tedious. You could move around with a ton of maize flour and not sell even a quarter of it. But now this facility has enabled more people from both sides of the border to meet and trade, hence it has increased our sales.”

Brown focuses on the last mile consumer, ideally someone who goes to the market to trade but also can leave with a bag of our flour for his or her family. The modern market has opened up plenty of opportunities for him. He says:

“For these three years, I have met many of my buyers here, where we exchange contacts, and they buy a sample of my products. My dream is to grow internationally in this business and by trading here I already meet with buyers from Burundi, DR Congo and Rwanda. Some have also started ordering my stock after trying my samples. And the good thing is that Muhange Market has modern food stores where I can stock up right here so that buyers from those countries can get their stock without a hassle. This market is at the heart of my business.”

A boon to women traders

Women Traders at Muhange cross-border market

The cross-border market at Muhange has had a great impact to women traders in particular. Godliva Segela Semagogwa is a trader and a member of Tujikomboe Women Group at Muhange. She sells rice during every market day. As one of the founders of the market, she and other group members are also part owners of the market. She speaks on their involvement:

“A woman was behind this project to build a modern market here. She told us categorically that women should be at the forefront, leading this facility and utilizing it. The new market has retailing stalls and modern stores where we stock up our products. Most importantly, we (women) have shares here as joint owner of the market. We would like to grow more as a group and be able to capitalize on this facility here.”

The Muhange Cross-border Market is jointly owned by the Kakonko District Council at 60%, Muhange Chini and Muhange Juu villages, with 15% each, and the women cooperative in these villages who own 10%. This model was part of the intervention by UNCDF meant to provide a modern, secure and, most importantly, women-friendly facility that can promote and support daily cross border trading between bordering communities from both nations.