Steven Kangero: The selfless businessman who touched many lives

-- economic recovery efforts since1970s until his recent passing on and many who knew him associate his name with improving the life of poor farmers in

In the 1970s, Kangero would help to build a big empire of Lake Zone cotton farmers or the ‘white gold’ when he became custodian of tractors supply. He did it by collecting cash from individual buyers, protecting their money before delivering it to the International Motor Mart (tOYOta) Dar es Salaam, by then, the tractor seller according to former attorney General andrew Chenge “as salesman for TOYOTA, he acted like the farmers’ bank. But much more, he was greatly trustful, walking with thousands of cash from Bariadi, Maswa and Kwimba districts in the Lake Zone to Dar es Salaam,” he said in an interview recently.

“Kangero was at the forefront of aspirations of farmers and he kept on fighting for the farmers against any obstacles that could pin down their plans to purchase farming inputs and equipment.”

He added that Kangero worked in the interest of the farmers who toiled in their fields with hand hoes and oxen plough and aspired to buy tractors to ease the work and increase productivity. “they used to give him a lot of money in cash, he travelled with it to Dar es Salaam and bought tractors from Mart and personally took them back to each one of them in the Lake Zone,” Chenge said.

Change spoke about love, admiration and adoration of Kangero at the deceased’s home village of Kiruru in Mwanga District, Kilimanjaro region on July 1st this year when the man who was called the Mwanga Hero was buried. He died from bronchitis at the age of 80 on June 22, 2023 while undergoing treatments in India. “He was very faithful and trustful. He was a businessperson who developed a network of development for the whole of tanzania and even today people in Bariadi, my home district, have invested and enjoyed the success that resulted from his own trust, hard work and efforts,” former Bariadi MP said.

Joseph Tadayo, Member of Parliament for Mwanga (CCM) remembers Kangero as one of the successful businessmen who was in close touch with his home, the people of Mwanga, Kilimanjaro region and tanzania as a whole.

“He was the architect of many development projects in Mwanga. He built the first ward secondary school which has developed further to become Lembeni High School; he contributed greatly to development here,” he said.

the politician said Kangero also made a lot of contributions improvement of health services, specifically in the construction of the modern Kisangara Health Center. also, he contributed generously towards construction of evangelical Lutheran Church in tanzania (eLCt) churches in many places but especially Kilimanjaro and Dar es Salaam.

Tadayo said Kangero was one of first architects and staunch supporters of Public Private Partnership policy in tanzania and was actively involved in implementation of such projects.

“Kangero played a big role in pushing for the endorsement of PPP and he started with an offshore oil exploration project. He succeeded in acquiring the Dominion Oil Company that was exploring oil. Not only that, he has been involved in the acquisition of the ARL Gold Company that was involved in gold research,” he said.

“In the construction of the Kihansi hydroelectric dam, he participated in achieving Naomi Shaaban presented a message from the neighboring Kenya where was a Member of Parliament for taveta for 20 years but now retired. She said Kangero was a staunch supporter of the east african Community who collaborated with like-minded business colleagues in Kenya as well as politicians.

“He was down to earth, a person who connected himself with anyone regardless of whether one is poor, needy or rich and for that he was a great philanthropist,” she said.

Kangero frequently expressed his concern about poverty in Mwanga and tanzania as well. He was fond of saying country couldn’t continue to be a place with no schools, health facilities and even a bank where farmers and herders can keep their finances and loan capital for their own investments.

In order for Mwanga people to improve economically, farmers, herders and the villagers to become self-sufficient, Mwanga Community Bank was established and Kangero was a major stakeholder in establishing the bank which today is Mwanga Halisi Commercial Bank, said former Prime Minister and first Vice President, Cleopa Msuya.

“Kangero had a profound impact on shaping our peoples’ life and our understanding of what can be achieved to create healthier and more sustainable livelihoods to our people at individual level, community and country; that is why we reflect on his legacy and why it remains so important to us,” he said.

He said that Mwanga is one of the few districts in tanzania which have community banks and Kangero participated in establishing it to support liberalization of farmers through access to financial services sector as a way of implementing economic reforms which started in the 1980s.

Kangero was a national and international icon, according to Msuya because he bred chickens at his Mgagao farm in Kilimanjaro region that are sold abroad, adding that he was very good at building partnership with his people of Mwanga, the government and international organisations and businesses.

Kangero was a genius when it comes to business development and he helped many people grow businesses hence deserves to be remembered as one of tanzanians who lived and left big marks, said Hatibu Senkoro, an expert in accounting and capital investment who was the chairman of tanzania Capital Market and Securities authority.

‘Many families ‘ate’ and that is why there is a popular saying here in Mwanga that everybody has touched his money in one way or the other,” he said