TANZANIA, July 10 -- THERE is a common joke: if you have not been to Sabasaba, can you even call yourself a Tanzanian? But let us not reduce it to just jokes and souvenirs. Sabasaba- officially the Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair, is not just a place where school kids go to eat ice cream and lose their classmates. Every year, it is a power-packed, brain-boosting, business-building festival of ideas, skills and global opportunities.

Here, skills are on sale (free actually). To be precise, at Sabasaba, learning happens in the most unusual corners. Want to learn how to make soap, install solar panels, run an online business, or create leather products? It is all there. Exhibitors from tech companies to handmade craftspeople, are not ...