Trade Aid gives help to local people in Mikindani to enable them to build successful and sustainable businesses that utilise the natural and cultural resources of Mikindani, but also preserve them for future generations.

To date, by providing assistance and business advice, Trade Aid have helped over one hundred local groups in activities ranging from fishing and agriculture to catering and furniture making.

Our key project to date has been the restoration and development of the Old Boma, a training hotel based in Mikindani offering education and employment to the community through encouraging tourism and trade.

By encouraging tourists we hope to help improve the local economy and provide more employment for the local people. The hotel is the only one of its kind in Southern Tanzania, offering a level of accommodation that was previously unavailable in the region.

In addition to attracting visitors from all over the world, the Old Boma provides training for the complete range of jobs that are found in the hospitality industry.

Trade Aid also works extensively with local individuals to help them evolve successful and profit making ventures, covering a wide range of activities, including fishing, basic agriculture, catering, shop keeping and furniture making.

Trade Aid also supports a beekeeping business in Mikindani, providing technical advice and start up costs. Our beekeepers are now producing good crops of honey, as well as candles for sale to passing tourists. We have worked with a group of  young entrepreneurs who have begun a street cleaning initiative in Old Mikindani, reducing visible waste to almost zero. Trade Aid and the Old Boma work with local suppliers and craftspeople throughout all our projects. The supply chain is key to sustainable tourism. Unless tourist-based income is funnelled back into local services, it won’t be sustainable, and Trade Aid are dedicated to promoting this chain.