The Learning Experiences of Ba tik and Ti e and Dye Small-S cal e Exporters in Arusha and Dar es sal a am, Tanzania
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African Clothing and Footware Research Network
Abstract
Description
This study used the Learning Organization theo
retical fram
ework. It
aimed at looking how
tie and dye and batik entrepreneurs are learni
ng to export their products in both regional and
international m
a
rkets. The units
of enquiry in this qualitati
ve research were sm
all-scal
e
batik and tie and dye garm
ent producers as well
as firm
s involved in pr
oduction and export.
Arusha and Dar es salaam were selected as
areas of study because of their activeness in
batik and
tie and dye business. S
e
ven cases
from
each town were selected with the
snowballing
techn
i
que being us
ed, where one re
spondent was asked
to iden
tify the other.
Prim
ary data was collected for analy
s
is
using structured interview guide.
The results showed that the m
o
re e
xperienced
entrepreneurs learn how to export m
o
re than
the relativ
ely inexperienced ones, and there
were m
o
re wom
e
n entrepreneurs than m
e
n.
Those exporting had m
o
re children and depe
ndants than those who sold locally. They
learn
e
d to export in
ord
e
r to g
e
t m
o
re inco
m
e
to support their fam
ilies. The im
pact of
education was not clear as entrepreneurs with di
fferent levels are involved in export. Most
export to the East African region. Entrepreneur
s learn to export thro
ugh participating in
exhibitions, prom
oting their business, dealing
with interm
ediaries and training received in
their for
m
e
r
jobs, including UNIDO, SIDO,
ADAT, Tabata Developm
ent Fund and
Anglican Developm
ent Agency. They also learn through work experience, networking,
export procedures, business em
ployees and also
through solving custom
ers’ com
p
laints.
Local authorities in areas wher
e the batik business is
active should help in training these
people on m
a
rketing especially regionally
and internationally. NGOs dealing with
entrepreneurship should focus their training in
m
a
rketing issues instead of dealing with
production only. Since the study is
a qualitative one with a sm
a
ll sa
m
p
le, further survey is
needed to qu
antify the results so as
to m
a
ke m
o
re ge
neral conclusions.
Keywords
Tye and Dye, SME