By OTR Reporter - Arusha.
Former African Development Bank Group President Akinwumi Adesina has called for a fundamental shift in how Tanzania measures the performance of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), saying public ownership should be judged by the economic and social value created from state assets.
Dr Adesina said Tanzania should focus on how public enterprises generate jobs, investment, exports, government revenues, better services and innovation rather than simply measuring the assets and investments held by the Government.
“Ownership is not the destination. Value creation is the destination,” he said.
Dr Adesina made the remarks yesterday while delivering a keynote address at the C-CEOs Forum 2026 in Arusha, where leaders of public entities are discussing their contribution to Tanzania’s development agenda and implementation of Dira 2050.
He said achieving Tanzania’s ambition of building a US$1 trillion economy by 2050 would require public enterprises to become more productive, better governed and increasingly capable of mobilising private capital and creating measurable economic value.
Effective governance, he said, should start with clear accountability between shareholders, boards and management.
“The shareholder sets expectations. The Board governs. The CEO leads. Management executes. And the Board holds the CEO accountable for results,” Dr Adesina said.
He urged boards to provide strategic direction, oversee risks and challenge management constructively, while giving executives sufficient authority to implement agreed strategies.
Dr Adesina also stressed the need to strengthen leadership pipelines, succession planning and institutional systems, arguing that public enterprises should not depend excessively on individual leaders.
“Institutions must outlive individuals,” he said.
He said stronger institutions require systems, management capabilities and organisational cultures that can sustain performance when leadership changes.
Another area requiring attention, according to Dr Adesina, is the productivity of public capital and assets.
He said every shilling invested by the State should be assessed against the economic opportunities it creates, including productivity, jobs, exports, revenues, capacity and private investment.
“Every shilling invested by the State represents an opportunity,” he said.
In this context, he identified the Public Investment Fund as a potentially important instrument for the next phase of SOE transformation, saying it should direct capital towards enterprises with credible growth potential, backed by clear reform plans and measurable targets.
“Capital should come with reform. Investment should come with accountability,” he said.
Dr Adesina said the Fund should also be judged by the value it creates, the private capital it mobilises, productivity improvements, sustainable jobs and returns generated.
He further encouraged Tanzania to broaden participation in strong public enterprises through strategic investors, partnerships and, where appropriate, public listing.
However, he cautioned that listing should follow the establishment of professional governance, capable management, credible financial reporting, strong internal controls and a competitive business model.
“A strong company should come before a public listing,” he said.
Public listing, he added, could provide Tanzanian citizens, pension funds and institutional investors with opportunities to participate in the growth of productive national assets.
Dr Adesina also called for performance measurement to extend beyond financial results, particularly for public-service institutions whose contribution cannot always be captured through profits and dividends.
He proposed a Public Service Delivery Index covering areas such as reliability, accessibility, affordability, responsiveness, waiting times, customer satisfaction, complaint resolution and digital accessibility.
“The ultimate shareholders of our public institutions are the people of Tanzania,” he said.
He said citizens’ experiences should therefore form part of institutional performance assessments, while governments should distinguish between the cost of running an efficient organisation and the additional cost associated with delivering policy-mandated public services.
Treasury Registrar Nehemiah Mchechu echoed the call for broader measures of performance, saying profits and dividends alone could not capture the contribution of all public entities.
Mr Mchechu said some institutions had been established primarily to provide essential services, enforce standards, safeguard public safety and citizens’ interests, and build national capacity.
He said performance assessment should therefore consider improvements in services, reductions in costs to citizens and government, increased efficiency and the extent to which institutions were addressing challenges that previously required Tanzania to seek services outside the country.
“For commercial institutions, we look at productivity, financial sustainability, profitability and contribution to Government,” Mr Mchechu said.
“For institutions with public-service responsibilities, we also look at lives saved, citizens reached, the quality and accessibility of services, time and costs reduced, national capacity built, and efficiency in the use of public resources.”
The C-CEOs Forum 2026, coordinated by the Office of the Treasury Registrar, is being held in Arusha from September 28 to 30 under the theme “High-Performing SOEs for a Competitive, Inclusive and Resilient Economy: Advancing Dira 2050.”
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