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Micro-finance Internship in Tanzania

Support female entrepreneurs from disadvantaged communities in Tanzania and help them secure financial independence

Destination

Tanzania

Age

16+ y/o

Minimum Stay

1 week

Start Date

Anytime

Accommodation

Homestay

What’s Included

24/7 Support

Round-the-clock support on the ground and 24/7 back up from our global teams.

Accommodation & Amenities

Clean, safe, and welcoming accommodation. A home away from home with comfortable amenities.

Activities, Training & Equipment

All programme activities and equipment, including training and workshops from experienced professionals.

Certification

Certified record of service hours, workshops, and activities for your CV.

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Starting at £1,545 for 1 weeks

Flexible 0% Interest payments

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Trip Overview

Empower local women

Support local female entrepreneurs to supplement their family income and become more financially independent.

Invest in your future too

Guided by a supervisor, you will create business plans, write marketing strategies, apply for loans, and present workshops to aspiring entrepreneurs.

Community and cultural immersion

Alongside supporting local women, live with a host family. Become immersed in a community and learn directly about customs, culture, and cuisine.

Embrace Tanzania

Join a safari, meet the Maasai, and climb Mount Kilimanjaro in your free time. Tanzania has a wealth of exciting experience waiting to be explored.

Meet like-minded people

Make new friends from around the world that share your interests and passion for different cultures and new experiences.

What you need to know

Overview

Would you like to pursue a career in finance or international development? Are you passionate about entrepreneurship? Would you like to support women in disadvantaged communities? Then this project is perfect for you!

As a Micro-finance intern in Tanzania, you will work with our local staff and help female entrepreneurs build their businesses. You will also get the opportunity to offer your own insights and advice. This is an excellent opportunity to gain experience in business and finance. You’ll be able to talk about what you learned in Tanzania during interviews and add this practical work experience to your CV.

An internship of this kind also prepares you for the working world. It helps you practice the skills needed to be a successful businessperson. You don’t need any prior experience to join. All you need is to be punctual, professional, and hard-working. Our staff will teach you everything you need to know, and you can ask questions and for advice.

A Day in the Life

You will start your day with a hearty breakfast around the table of your local host family. After this, you will set out to the office using public transport known as a dala dala. Projects Abroad staff members will accompany you on your first day to familiarise you with the route.

Working hours are normally from 8am to 5pm. For the first part of the day, you will be doing administrative tasks in the office. This might include reading through business plans, working on marketing strategies, and going through loan account statements.

Between 12pm and 1:30pm, you will get a lunch break. If your host family lives close by, you can head home to eat and rest. Alternatively, you’ll enjoy a packed lunch at the office.

Your afternoons are usually spent working with local entrepreneurs. This might include helping them work on their marketing plans or running workshops.

Once your working day is done, your evenings will be your free time to do what you like. Be sure to spend as much time as possible with your host family to learn more about the local culture. Enjoy meals with them and even join them for family outings.

Evenings and weekends are also the perfect opportunity to explore the city and the surrounding national parks with your fellow interns.

Aims & Impact

The main of this project is to support local entrepreneurs in Tanzania and help them achieve financial independence. We do this by providing them with small, interest-free loans and helping them lay the groundwork for their business.

All the beneficiaries are women who need loans to develop their business and contribute to the family income. In many cases, her husband’s income is not enough to support all of the family’s needs, or she is the sole breadwinner for her family.

Because of the loans, the woman are able to set up a small business, which can help them earn enough money to pay school fees or for school uniforms, for example.

As a micro-finance intern, you will also play an invaluable role in supporting them with skills training and knowledge transfer. At the same time, you will learn a lot about micro-finance in developing countries.

Join us as a Micro-finance intern in Tanzania and help more entrepreneurs break the cycle of poverty.

Activities

During your Micro-finance internship in Tanzania, you can expect to:

Run weekly workshops to provide general business guidance and support
Do house visits and interviews to see if women can apply for the loans
Manage loan accounts and monitor targeted individuals who have already received loans
Develop marketing strategies based on the business plans of local entrepreneurs

Your work will focus on the following areas:

Run workshops

Along with your fellow interns, you will run weekly workshops for the entrepreneurs.

During these workshops, you will be able to share your own insights and knowledge of business. You will also teach the women basic English, literacy, and numeracy.

Do house visits

During house visits, you will interview women to see if they qualify for the loans. If so, you will create profiles for them on our database.

Manage loan accounts

The central aspect of this project is the fact that we help local entrepreneurs build their small businesses through interest-free loans. As their businesses start taking off, they are required to pay us back in small instalments.

You will get the opportunity to manage and monitor various loan accounts. You will do this with the guidance of your local supervisor, who is a qualified loan officer. You will mostly do this after workshops.

Develop marketing strategies

The work you do will be focused on helping entrepreneurs build small businesses. You will help them put together their business plans and develop marketing strategies.

Recent small businesses that interns have been working with include rearing chickens and making and selling jewellery.

Map & Location

Vast savannahs teeming with wildlife, Mount Kilimanjaro piercing the sky, and the colourful culture of the Maasai tribe — all things you’ll find in the incredible East African nation of Tanzania.

Tanzania is considered as one of the safest countries in Africa with a friendly and welcoming population, and is a popular tourist destination. With 30% of the country covered in national parks, including the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater, it’s especially good for safaris.

Arusha

Arusha, in northern Tanzania, serves as a gateway to Africa’s most renowned safari destinations. The region is home to 2.4 million people, with 600,000 living in Arusha city at the foot of Mount Meru. It enjoys a pleasant highland climate with warm days and cool nights.

It has a mix of cultures and a growing tourism industry thanks to the fascinating handcrafted souvenirs of the Maasai markets, interesting cultural sites, and thrilling safari trips to nearby national parks.

Food & Accommodation

Discover the magic of Tanzania from your base in Arusha. You’ll have everything you need for a comfortable stay, including a cosy bed, three meals a day using the authentic tastes of Tanzania, and readily available drinking water.

You’ll be welcomed into a carefully selected host family in Arusha, instantly making you feel like a local and providing a taste of Tanzanian life. It will be clean, safe, and within a short distance of your placement. We’ll also handle your daily transport to and from your project, so you can focus on developing your skills, connections, and global perspective.

Shared rooms are arranged with other participants of the same gender and similar age, creating a great opportunity to connect and share your cultural exchange in this beautiful country.

Free Time and Leisure

A trip to Tanzania is the chance to experience life in the heart of Africa. There’s plenty to see and do here during your free time on your project.

A project in Tanzania wouldn’t be complete without a safari! This is a chance to see the beautiful wildlife of this country up close, like elephants, rhinos, and lions.

What’s more, Tanzania is home to the highest mountain in Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro. Hiking around the base through lush vegetation is a peaceful way to spend an afternoon.

Browsing through a vibrant, local market is a must while you’re there. You can also spend time in a Maasai village, getting to know a completely different way of life.

There will likely be many other volunteers in Tanzania with you. This means you have the option to explore the country independently or with a group of like-minded volunteers from different projects.

Your Arrival Made Easy

When you arrive at your respective airport, a member of Projects Abroad staff will be there to meet you. You can find more detailed information on arrival airports, orientation, and visas on our Tanzania Arrival Procedures page.