DEVOTA KASANDA MDACHI-TANZANIA’S MOST POWERFUL BUSINESS WOMAN

By Ayoub Mzee
Meet Devota Kasanda Mdachi the Tanzania Tourist Board ‘s Marketing Director, the first woman to hold this position in Tanzania. She is billed as Tanzania’s most powerful business woman by Newdeal Africa – based in London. It’s been a ground breaking year for her in business .Within a short time since her appointment Tanzania’s fortunes have doubled as far as Tourism is concerned in Tanzania.

Ms. Mdachi will be based in the TTB head office in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. More CEOs, more industries, more power, more challenges. That’s the story of Fortune’s 2014 ranking of the 50 Most Powerful Women in ­Business, which features an all-time record of 24 large-company CEOs in its pages. Our women are leading—and in many cases pushing through difficult tran
She has been art of the team that has seen Sunderland AFC (SAFC) an English premiership club officially strengthen its links with the African continent, after cementing its partnership with Tanzania.She also oversaw the ground breaking deal between Tanzania Tourism and Stoke City English premiership club.This made Tanzania the first African coutry to dela with the English premiership. 
Why the English Premiership? It is the world favourite game. In England, almost 75% of 16 to 50 years old are interested in football, football provides an excellent , entertaining and exciting backdrop to showcase a product and football is played by over 265 million people and still growing. By this Tanzania will get brand awareness, brand visibility, trust and credibility, web traffic, promotional assets, talent rights, shirt sponsorship, broadcast to 211 countries worldwide with 2.85 billion cumulative audience for all English games in over 500 million homes alone.And why Tourism? Tourism is a key factor in the upward growth of the Tanzanian economy and the partnership uses the global reach of the Barclays Premier League to promote the country as a premier tourist destination. Premier League football is watched in over 200 countries, with accumulative audience of a phenomenal 4.2 billion, making it the most watched sporting league in the world.
As of now, Sunderland FC has already developed close links with Tanzania, through providing technical and practical support to the development of a football academy project, the first of its kind in the country. The project will see thousands of youngsters benefit from a joined up approach combing football, education and community engagement, harnessing the knowledge and expertise of Sunderland AFC and its own successful academy.
Lazaro S. Nyalandu, MP, Tanzania’s Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism, is quoted as said: “Tanzania Tourist Board is proud to be associated with Sunderland AFC. We believe that the partnership enhances the Board’s efforts in promoting Tanzania to the world and will also help to attract investments and develop sports tourism in Tanzania.”