Mr. Natwar Gotecha

Natwar Gotecha
Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer
Tanzania Cigarette Company Limited

Mr Natwar Gotecha, the Chairman and CEO of the Tanzania Cigarette Company Ltd recorded an impressive rise in ranking from sixth position in 2000 – when the awards were first held – to fourth in 2001 and third this year.

The top 15 CEOs in East Africa were: Manu Chandaria, Reginald Mengi, Natwar Gotecha, James Mulwana, Vimal Shah, Pat Healy, Arnold Kilewo, Chris Kirubi, Jayesh Shah, Mahmud Janmohamed, Naushad Merali, Ali Khan Karmali, Tom Bragaw, Brian Presbury and Gareth George.
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Mr Gotecha of the Tanzania Cigarette Company in Dar made the biggest leap from fifth position last year to third, while Mr Kirubi of Kenya, who was third last year, slipped to eighth.

Mr Natwar Gotecha, vice-chairman of the Confederation of Tanzania Industries, said a continuation of the large trade deficit with Kenya was not acceptable to Tanzanians.

"This deficit of nearly 1 to 10 is unsustainable.More imports from Kenya are not going to help our Gross Domestic Product or increase government revenues," he said.

"Removal of tariffs must be consistent with the overall development objectives of Tanzania," he added.

Mr Gotecha asked Kenyan businesses to invest in Tanzania to ensure even development throughout East Africa.

"Kenya has a broad and diversified manufacturing sector, well developed agriculture, agro-processing and capitalistic entrepreneurial skills, which Tanzania does not have," he said.

Mr. Natwar Gotecha

Confederation of Tanzania Industry

P.O. Box 40114

DAR ES SALAAM

Natwar GotechaCEO Tanzania Cigarette Company

One such CEO is Natwar Gotecha, chairman and chief executive officer of the Tanzania Cigarette Company (TCC), who has captained the firm since it was privatised.

As chairman of the board of directors and CEO of TCC he has the overall responsibility of setting the company's corporate strategy and overseeing and directing its implementation, assisted by six directors.

Mr Gotecha also doubles as a vice president of Japan Tobacco International (JTI), responsible for JTI's business operations in East, Central and Southern Africa.He holds the vice chairmanship of the Confederation of Tanzania Industries (CTI), is a member of the Tanzania National Business Council and the lead CEO of Tanzania's CEO Round Table.

During his tenure at TCC, Mr Gotecha was responsible for the acquisition of Tanzania Cigarette Company on behalf of RJRI (now Japan Tobacco International) in 1995 when the company was privatised.It was formerly wholly government owned.

He successfully managed TCC's $26 million rehabilitation investment after the company was privatised and steered it to its current position as one of Tanzania's privatisation success stories.

On top of extensive senior level business experience in blue-chip companies in the fast moving consumer goods sector in various regions of the world, Mr Gotecha boasts 17 years' experience with RJR Philipps, Philip Morris and JTI, covering a wide range of markets in Africa, Middle East, the European Union and Eastern Europe.

In addition, he has acted as a consultant on business and economic policy to a number of private and public sector clients in the UK.

Mr Gotecha, a British citizen, holds an MSc from the London School of Economics and an MBA in Finance and International Management from the Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago.

He has for two consecutive years retained a respectable position among the top 10 list of "Most Respected CEOs in East Africa."Last year he was placed fifth.

Commenting on the New Partnership for Africa Development (Nepad) issues, Mr Gotecha told The EastAfrican that it was a good initiative in principle as it was forward looking for Africa as the continent prepares for globalisation of trade.

He also said that the East African Business Summit held in Kenya last month was a great opportunity for industry leaders in East Africa to influence the development agenda in the region.

"Our Kenyan colleagues showed up in good numbers at the Mount Kenya Safari club for the Summit.I would strongly encourage our Tanzanian and Ugandan colleagues to follow suit next year," he said.

According to Mr Gotecha, free trade is not a panacea to development in itself, adding that other synergies of integration should also be explored to benefit all countries and that investment, growth and poverty alleviation in each country should be demonstrated.

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The first vice-chairman of the Tanzania Confederation of Industries (CTI), Natwar Gotecha, praised Mr Mramba's budget, saying: "Most of the recommendations by the private sector were included.That government departments will now be paying taxes seals a key source of revenue loss."

Mr Gotecha, who is the chief executive of the Tanzania Cigarette Company (TCC), added that CTI executives drafted some of the recommendations included in the 2002/3 budget.

Among the issues that the private sector wanted included in the budget was tax exemptions on heavy industrial fuel, used by Tanesco to generate electricity, so as to cut the cost of power generation.

The third ranked was Natwar Gotecha of the Tanzania Cigarette Company (TCC) of Dar es Salaam.The awards were announced at a ceremony held on Saturday at the Royal Palm Hotel in Dar.

Neither Dr Chandaria nor Mr Gotecha was in Dar to receive their awards as they were away on business trips.Mr Gotecha recorded an impressive rise in ranking from sixth position in 2000 – when the awards were first held – to fourth in 2001 and third this year.

Mr. Natwar Gotecha, Chairman & Chief Executive

Tanzania Cigarette Company