Masurel is well acquainted with Tanzania. Since 2005, he has been involved with multiple projects in Tanzania, mainly through the Center for International Cooperation (CIS), part of the International Office of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. These projects are all about the development of entrepreneurship and small businesses. These projects consist mainly of training of Tanzanian university lecturers in entrepreneurship (mainly from Mzumbe University and University of Iringa) and supervision of Tanzanian PhDs (4 PhD theses so far).
Masurel comments about C4YET: ‘Financing start‐ups in Tanzania is a great challenge, as start‐ ups can also be seen as important means for poverty alleviation. ‘No poverty’ is the first Sustainable Development Goal. This project can contribute to pursuing these challenges and really make a difference for many young people’.
The project leaders of the C4YET project are Dr. Nsubili Isaga Mwalukasa (Mzumbe University) and Prof. Lars Bo Jeppesen (Copenhagen Business School). Dr. Nsubili Isaga Mwalukasa defended her PhD thesis (Entrepreneurship and growth of SMES in the furniture industry in Tanzania) in June 2012 at the VU. Recently this paper was published: Eijdenberg, E.L., Isaga, N.M., Paas, L.J, & Masurel, E. (2019). Fluid entrepreneurial motivations in Tanzania. Journal of African Business.