When Kamal Kotecha began talks to build a pharmaceutical factory in Dar Es Salaam that would offer high quality medicines and boost the economy, the Tanzanian authorities assured him any drugs it produced would be approved within three months. One and a half years – and $13m of investment – later, he is still waiting.

“You can never get hold of officials or have decisions. They are always in meetings,” complains Mr Kotecha, an Indian busi- nessman previously based in the Democratic Republic of Congo who runs Zenufa Pharmaceuticals. “You could almost say we have an office at the regulator, because we have one person who is there every day.”