(Bloomberg) -- Private business in Tanzania is set to expand rapidly as President Samia Hassan moves to reassure investors and improve the nation’s operating environment, according to billionaire Mohammed Dewji.

Dewji expects MeTL, the industrial conglomerate he owns, to ramp up sisal output as it targets becoming the world’s largest producer of the fiber-yielding plant that’s used to make rope, paper and carpets. MeTL accounts for 35% of the East African nation’s output, according to information on its website.

Dewji joins other investors, including Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote, in hailing the president’s determination to spur business. Hassan assumed office in March after the death of ex-President John Magufuli, who was credited with ramping up government spending on railways, ports, roads, power and health centers -- but criticized for stifling private investment.

“I think our new president just wants to create a conducive environment so that we invest, we create jobs, and we pay taxes,” Dewji said in an interview at the Qatar Economic Forum. “Infrastructure projects are going to continue. But in the past the government was more involved in trying to do business.”

Dewji, whose net worth is estimated at $1.6 billion by Forbes, is the chief executive officer of MeTL. The group, with about 31,000 workers, has operations in textiles, sisal, flour milling, beverages and edible oils in southern and central Africa. MeTL forecasts its sisal output will jump about 20% to 12,000 tons next year.

Investors have improved their outlook on Tanzania since Hassan took over and directed her administration to fast-track delayed investments. They include a $30 billion liquefied natural gas project involving Equinor ASA, and a $3 billion joint venture with a Chinese company to develop an iron-ore and coal mine.Tanzania, like the rest of Africa, has opportunities in industries including agriculture, minerals and infrastructure that investors will find lucrative, Dewji said. “What Africa needs is capital, and there are numerous opportunities,” he said. - David Malingha, Bloomberg News

BOSTON – A Kenyan national pleaded guilty today in connection with her role in a fraud conspiracy involving romance scams targeting individuals in the United States.

Florence Mwende Musau, 36, a Kenyan national previously residing in Canton, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud. U.S. District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs scheduled sentencing for Oct. 14, 2021.

On March 25, 2021, Musau and five others were charged in connection with their roles in online scams that are alleged to have collectively defrauded victims of more than $4 million.

According to the charging documents, Musau participated in a series of romance scams designed to defraud victims into sending money to bank accounts controlled by her and others. Romance scams occur when a criminal adopts a fake online identity to gain a victim’s affection and trust. The scammer then uses the illusion of a romantic or close relationship to manipulate and/or steal from the victim. To carry out the schemes, Musau used fake passports in the names of numerous aliases to open bank accounts in and around Boston to collect and launder the proceeds of the romance scams. She then executed large cash withdrawals from those accounts, often multiple times on a single day and generally structured in amounts less than $10,000, in an effort to evade detection and currency transaction reporting requirements.

The charge of conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud provide for a sentence of up to 30 years in prison, five years of supervised release, a fine of up to $1 million or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater, restitution, and forfeiture. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell; Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; William S. Walker, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; Joshua McCallister, Acting Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Boston Division; and Jonathan Davidson, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ian Stearns of Mendell’s Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit is prosecuting the case. 

The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The remaining defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. - U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

DAR ES SALAAM, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Tanzania's Zanzibar President Hussein Mwinyi has invited businessmen from east Africa and beyond to put up heavy investment on the Islands that will help drive the blue economy.

Mwinyi said Zanzibar is open for heavy investment in diverse sectors of the blue economy, including deep-sea fishing, ports infrastructure, marine transport, petroleum and gas, and tourism, said a statement issued on Saturday by the East African Community (EAC).

President Mwinyi made the appeal during a CEO Evening Roundtable Engagement dinner on EAC regional integration organized by the East African Business Council on Friday night.

In his address read on his behalf by Zanzibar's Second Vice-President Hemed Suleiman Abdalla, President Mwinyi said: " Zanzibar also requires heavy investment in modern agriculture, real estate and conference tourism."

"Investment in these sectors will spur business within the East African Community in addition to increasing national revenue and improving the lives of the people of Zanzibar," said Mwinyi.

He said that Zanzibar had been a centre of maritime and international commerce for centuries with merchants from the Islands proving their worth in regional and global markets.

Peter Mathuki, the EAC secretary general, said Tanzania and Kenya, two members of the EAC, have huge potential for investment in the blue economy with shorelines on the Indian Ocean. Other member states of the EAC are Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan. - Xinhua