Writing of business plans ensures performance of a business and contributes to enabling countries to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs). The latter are intended, in part, to promote industrialization, and improved human living and working standards. This chapter identifies and analyses the importance of business plan for family-owned food processing small and medium enterprises (Fo-SMEs). It advocates for the establishment of an “integrated planning” strategy to link Fo-SMEs and government support system for business development. Business-planning forecasts industrial production based on consumers' demands. Integrated planning ensures sustainability of Fo-SMEs, farmers' economic growth, and consequent achievement of SDGs. Tanzania Fo-SMEs serve as a useful lesson for developing economies. Future studies should consider Fo-SMEs' succession planning framework.
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To achieve sustainable economic growth and eradicate poverty, the Governments of Tanzania broaden the economic growth base through improved manufacturing and crop processing. Food processing is one of the fast-growing manufacturing sub-sectors in Tanzania and is important in boosting farmers’ incomes. Currently, the sector contributes 38.9 per cent of the value-added production and 36.9 per cent of total employment (URT, Economic Survey, 2018) (See Table 1).
The manufacturing sector focuses on the processing of agricultural goods as determined by the volume of agricultural production (URT, 2010, 2008). Food-processing has a multiplier effect on the country’s economy, particularly for rural farmers. The majority of Tanzanians, especially women, are rural smallholder farmers and are dependent on food industries as outlets for their crops (Osabuohien et al., 2019). Among the efforts which continue to be made is the introduction of the Sustainable Industrial Development Policy (SIDP,1996) which empowers the private sector to play its effective role. The role of SIDP is to design and make available a plan for industrializing Tanzania to become semi-industrialized by 2025, expecting that national economy would reach a 40% mark of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Globally, most SMEs are family businesses (Daspit et al., 2015) and contribute about 70–90 per cent of the annual GDP of individual countries (Family Firm Institute, 2017).
Table 1. Structure of Tanzania’s manufacturing sector, 2018
| ISIC (Rev 3) | Description | Value added | Employment |
| | Tanzania shillings (million) | % of total | Number | % of total |
| 151–4 | Food processing | 3,574,901 | 38.9% | 113,052 | 36.9% |
| 155 | Beverages | 1,911,174 | 20.8% | 9,279 | 3.0% |
| 160 | Tobacco and cigarettes | 767,867 | 8.4% | 6,769 | 2.2% |
| 171–2, 181 | Textile weaving/tailoring apparel | 434,041 | 4.7% | 63,930 | 20.9% |
| 191 | Skins and skin products | 28,855 | 0.3% | 2,286 | 0.7% |
| 201–202 | Timber and timber products | 162,536 | 1.8% | 12,478 | 4.1% |
| 210-221–222 | Paper products, printing | 167,430 | 1.8% | 7,409 | 2.4% |
| 241–2 | Chemicals and pharmaceuticals | 360,411 | 3.9 | 9,852 | 3.2% |
| 251, 252 | Rubber and plastic products | 349,590 | 3.8 | 5,753 | 1.9% |
| 261–9 | Non-metallic products | 622,101 | 6.7 | 12,434 | 4.1% |
| 271–369 | Others | 814,399 | 8.8 | 62,938 | 20.6% |
| Total manufacturing | 9,193,305 | | 306,180 | |
Source: URT, Economic Survey, 2018 (Percentages computed).