About Tanzania Ventures Lab

A four-year national venture acceleration and innovation commercialisation programme designed to support 1,000 high-potential Tanzanian ventures.

About the Programme

Tanzania Ventures Lab is a four-year national venture acceleration and innovation commercialisation programme designed to support 1,000 high-potential Tanzanian ventures across six strategic sectors critical to Tanzania's industrialisation, energy transition, food security, technological sovereignty, and employment agenda.

Jointly implemented by Sahara Ventures and COSTECH Startup Haus, and anchored within Buni Hub and Dar Teknohama Business Incubator (DTBI), Tanzania Ventures Lab is conceived as a sector-anchored accelerator-of-accelerators—aligning national policy priorities, research institutions, private capital, and markets into a single, coherent venture pipeline from ideation to scale.

Team collaboration at Tanzania Ventures Lab

Our Mission

To translate innovation into enterprises, enterprises into industries, and industries into sustainable economic growth for Tanzania.

Our Vision

To position Tanzania as a leading regional innovation and venture hub in East Africa and the SADC region by 2029.

Strategic Alignment

Tanzania Ventures Lab is fully aligned with Tanzania's most important national development strategies:

Tanzania Development Vision 2025 and the Vision 2050 trajectory.
National Science, Technology, and Innovation Priorities.
Industrialisation, mining beneficiation, clean energy, and digital economy strategies.
Youth employment, MSME growth, and private-sector-led development frameworks.

Implementation Partners

Tanzania Ventures Lab is powered by a consortium of leading innovation institutions working together to accelerate Tanzania's venture ecosystem.

Sahara Ventures

Programme Design & Execution

Sahara Ventures is dedicated to building a stable innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship ecosystem in Africa. Through its three pillars — Sahara Consulting (project management and research), Sahara Accelerator (impact-driven venture acceleration), and Sahara Sparks (flagship events connecting ecosystem players) — it drives sustainable growth for startups and SMEs across the continent.

Buni Hub

Innovation & Incubation

Established in October 2011 under COSTECH with support from TANZICT, Buni Hub is the first innovation space in Tanzania. It discovers, nurtures, and mentors youth with innovative technology solutions, offering five membership tracks — Interns, Mentored Startups, Makers, Startups & Freelancers, and BCP — along with a mini fabrication lab (makerspace) for prototyping and product development.

DTBi (Dar Teknohama Business Incubator)

Technology Incubation

DTBi is a not-for-profit technology incubator established in 2011 by COSTECH, infoDev (World Bank), and Vodacom. It promotes emerging ICT and tech-based companies by providing shared resources, access to finance and markets, mentoring, and networking. DTBi bridges the gap between innovation and commercialisation, helping startups transition from concept to sustainable business.

Our Strategic Partners

Tanzania Ventures Lab is built on deep collaboration between the public sector, private sector, academia, and development partners. Together, we are creating the most comprehensive venture support ecosystem in Tanzania.

Public Sector Partners

Tanzania Ventures Lab works closely with line ministries across all six strategic sectors, relevant regulatory agencies, and regional and local government authorities nationwide. These partnerships ensure ventures receive the policy alignment, regulatory guidance, and institutional support needed to scale.

Private Sector Partners

We partner with leading energy companies, mining firms, agribusinesses, manufacturers, telecoms and digital platforms, banks, fintech companies, and corporate venture arms to provide market access, mentorship, and co-investment opportunities for Tanzania Ventures Lab ventures.

Research & Academic Partners

Universities and research institutes across Tanzania, centres of excellence and specialised laboratories, and international research collaborators contribute cutting-edge knowledge and support research-to-market commercialisation.

Development & Investment Partners

Development finance institutions, impact investors and venture capital funds, philanthropic foundations, bilateral donors, and the SADC Secretariat provide critical funding, technical assistance, and regional connectivity for the programme.

Become a Partner

Interested in supporting Tanzania's most ambitious venture acceleration programme? We welcome partnerships across funding, mentorship, market access, research collaboration, and programme sponsorship.