In the past the Government had dialogued with the Private sector on an hoc basis. Sometimes there was no follow up on decision made. A workshop held sometime in October 1999 involving the Government and the major private sector stakeholders decided to institution the Tanzania National Business Council (TNBC) as a mechanism for holding regular dialogue between the Government, the private sector and other stakeholders on issues of socio-economic development of Tanzania. The formal establishment of the Tanzania National Business Council following signing of the Presidential Circular No. 1 of 2001 and publishing of the establishment Circular as Government Notice No. 691 of 28th September 2001should be seen in that light.

The Tanzania National Business Council is the highest consultative organ between the private sector and the Government in the country. It has 40 members sitting with the President of the United Republic of Tanzania as Chairman. Members are drawn from both the public and private sectors. The Government has nominated 20 members including one from the academia, and the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation, the apex body of the private sector, has an equal number to nominate by the organized private business sectors are presented on the council. One of those representatives from the private sector comes from the labour movement.

The National Business Council attempts to focus its attention on the provision of a forum for public and private sector dialogue with a view to reaching consensus and mutual understanding on strategic issues related to the efficient management of development resources, prevailing operating and regulatory environment. In addition it aims at encouraging and promoting the formulation of coordinated policies and social and economic matter including considering existing and proposed social and economic legislation and to make recommendations through the Government to Parliament or other appropriate bodies. It also participates in the review process and proposes changes in the policy environment to enhance the attractiveness of Tanzania for both local and foreign direct investment and improve on competitiveness of Tanzania products in the world market.

In the furtherance of its basic mission, in practical terms can undertake to cause to be conducted, such research or survey or study into any aspect of social and economic development policy as it may deem fit. It can also set action targets as well as performance benchmarks for implementing decisions or agreements reached including responsibilities for performance also to monitor and evaluate implementation of policies and measures agreed upon as to their effectiveness and/ of unintended impact.

To create a broader consultative mechanism under the TNBC, SMART Partnership concept has been added to the TNBC. SMART Partnership is a world wide concept based on the general principle that any economy is an integral whole with the general infrastructure, business process and social responsibilities all supporting each other for creating limitless opportunities in the generation of wealth. SMART Partnership is therefore based on the deliberate policy of cooperation with Government, the Private Sector, Labour, Academia, the Media, Civil Society etc, aimed at transforming a country into a winning nation. SMART stands for Sustainable, Measurable, Attainable, Result-Oriented, Timely. TNBC is the national hub of SMART Partnership and the President is the chairman: SMART Partnership conferences and events would be organised on a theme basis and would start at district level up to a regional level ending at a national convention where key themes and issues as discussed at regional level would be debated for final presentation to TNBC, the supreme consultative body in Tanzania.