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Case Study:‘Tell us how to make legal mechanisms and tools workfor informal businesses.’ President Benjamin Mkapa, TanzaniaIn 2005 President Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzaniaproposed that the next government should speedup the process of bringing informal businesseswithin the legal ambit to shore up achievementsrecorded and spur further the country’s economicgrowth. The president made the remarks whenhe launched a report on the Diagnosis Phase ofthe Property and Business Formalisation Programmefor Tanzania. Quoting the 2005 GlobalCompetitive Report released by the World EconomicForum, Mkapa noted that Tanzania hadclimbed 11 places above last year’s rating andovertaken Uganda and Kenya partly because ofthe contribution by informal businesses. In orderto take Tanzania to the next level of development,the President specifically sought answersto the following:a) How are we going to turn all this recognitioninto something accessible and beneficial tothe 98 per cent of business operating outsidethe legal system?b) How can we enable people to leverage theirparticipation in this competitive environmentwhen probably 89 percent of their assets areheld in the extra-legal sector?c) What legal reforms should be instituted torecognise, protect and ’formalise’ of the informaloperators’ assets?d) What needs to be done to ensure our peoplebenefit from the growing formal and marketeconomy?e) Due to lack of recognition legally, informalentrepreneurs have created their own mechanismsof documentation, registration, fungibilityand collateral, and testament.These informal entrepreneurs have developed archetypesof business organisations and expandedmarkets outside the legal sector,’ he added.‘How can we bring these organisations into themainstream and provide recognition? And thereal challenge is to use these archetypes as abasis for a new system wherein people can relateto and access, and thus bring down the barriersthat stifle entrepreneurship. How to remove thosebarriers that exclude them from participating inthe markets we seek to create, and that retardour poverty-reduction efforts. Mkapa said Tanzaniacontinues to be excluded from the benefits ofan expanded market economy, and it was time tobring them in. He called for support from stakeholdersand development partners, non-governmentalorganisations, financial institutions ,andothers in the protection and formalisation of thehard-won assets and business of the majority ofpoor Tanzanians. Source: Guardian, 2005-10-06the protection and facilitation of business;• Freedom of the press, and adequately paidjournalists to shelter them from bribery;• Enforcement officers who apply the law uniformlyto all;• Ease of entry into formal business so that variousbusiness forms are quickly and cheaplyformed, some to limit the owners’ liability totheir investment in the business;• Significant effort to reduce grand corruptionand, ultimately, to reinforce social norms thatconstrain petty corruption.Of the emerging business laws in some Africancountries, 91 are an example of an important243