The Conundrum in Accessing Business Development Services among Urban Informal Manufacturers in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

This study examined the extent at which informal manufacturers’ access Business Development Services (BDS). The study inquired about the extent of access and constraints to such access. The study was carried out in Dar es Salaam and mixed methods approach was used to study the phenomena. Using purposive and simple random sampling, researchers used a sample of 150 respondents from among manufactures and officials from different organizations. Data were collected by the use of questionnaire, interviews and documentary review. The descriptive statistics performed through SPSS were used in analysing quantitative data while content analysis run through MAXQDA10 was used to analyse qualitative data. Because the study was built on the contention that Business Development Services help in improving the performance of businesses, findings revealed that there is limited access to Business Development Services by urban informal manufactures in terms of training, financial assistance, legal related assistance and technical assistance among others which hinder their growth. The sluggish access to these services was caused by financial, information, technical, legislative, cultural and capacity related constraints. The study urged the government and its related organizations to value small start-ups by giving them all their necessary attention if they want the country to be more of an industrialized one. Business Development Services should be extended to these ventures bearing in mind that it is from these informal start-ups that disruptive industries emerge. Thus continuous trainings, financial and technical assistance should be given greater priority to urban informal manufacturers.