The CEO Roundtable of Tanzania (CEOrt) was founded in 2000 by a small group of CEOs. The main objective was to create a forum through which industry leaders within the Tanzanian private sector could constructively engage with government, its development partners, and other stakeholders with a view to creating a more conducive environment for business to prosper and for the country to develop.The founders recognized that as much as there was intent on the part of the government to allow the private sector to lead the economic development process, continuing lack of political will would prove detrimental to the private sector’s active participation in the economic development of the country.

As a way of exercising positive influence on government policy, leadership within the CEO Roundtable took the initiative to organize dialogue meetings with a view to identifying the key obstacles to economic growth and developing solutions to the problems.