This is an article read in the newspaper The Citizen, Dar Es Salaam He is a man working hard to promote biodiesel as an alternative for fossil fuels, increasingly blamed throughout the world for causing climate change. 

Michael Mwakilasa picked interest about bodiesel from a friend, Anthony Park while in the United States where he lived and worked for more than 10 years. 

Mwakilasa, who is married with two sons, last year founded Mafuta Sasa Biodiesel Ltd, which is headquartred in Dar es Salaam. Anthony Park is a co-director in the company. 

He says their accompany has set up a mini-refinery that has so far produced 330 litres on test runs. Biodiesel is extracted from fresh or waste vegetable oils. It's an environmentally safe, low pollution fuel for most internal combustion and turbine diesel engines. 

They plan to use mainly oil produced from the 'Jatropha Caucas' plant, known in Kiswahili as 'Mbono Kaburi,' which he says is good opportunity for another cash crop that won't compete with food crops for both financial and land resources. 

Jatropha Caucas, he says, grows in marginal lands, rarely used for growing other food and cash crops. It also thrives in areas with low rainfall totals, which could be another good economic opportunity for semi-arid regions, he adds. 

"I decided to return in response to the call by President Jakaya Kikwete to Tanzanians in the Diaspora to come back and invest in our national economy," he says. 

Jatropha Caucas grows well in areas with rainfall ranging from "250 mm to 2350mm. His company would provide farmers with quality seeds, he says. 

"I have seen people live by Jatropha Caucas farming in developed countries, and I can bet it shall be the same way in Tanzania when farmers start cultivating the plant," says the soft-spoken man. 

But Mwakilasa says biodiesel can also be extracted from discarded cooking oil, especially from large-scale operations like hotels and the fish market in Magogoni in the city. 

Producing biodiesel has very good potential to provide employment and create jobs in rural areas. He envisages a day when biodiesel will replace fossil fuels in schools and hospitals. Farms near schools could also be part of income generating projects.