Why NEMBO publishes its prices

A finance manager in Dar es Salaam asks three studios for the price of one 30-second animated advert. Two reply with a request for a call. The third replies with a link. The manager cannot forward a call to the director who approves the spend, but can forward a link, and the director can read it without anyone on hand to explain it.

That small difference decides which quote survives an approval meeting. A price given on a call exists only for the people on it, so the approver relies on a summary. NEMBO prints its whole price ladder on the site, in shillings and in dollars. This note sets out what the ladder says, how the dollar figures are benchmarked, what a published price leaves undecided and the rule that keeps private quotes honest.

Why do some studios ask for a call before naming a number?

Some studios in the category route price enquiries through a call or a quiz. Vidico, a video production company, sends visitors from its pricing page to a two-minute quiz that returns a pricing range, and the page lists no plans or prices ⁵. For custom production that is a reasonable method, because cost varies with filming days, cast and location.

It has a cost for the buyer. The range arrives late, and no one except the person who took the quiz has seen the basis for it. A buyer who must justify the spend to a director, a board or a donor has nothing to attach to the request.

NEMBO's position follows from what it makes. The studio does not film. With no shoot day, no crew and no travel, the work follows one pipeline each time: script, storyboard, animation, voice, captions, quality check, one review and masters ⁴. A pipeline that repeats can be priced in advance, and a price set in advance can be printed.

How much does an animated advert cost in Tanzania?

On the NEMBO home ladder, one 30-second animated advert, Mark One, is TZS 350,000. The ladder then rises with volume and scope, and each fee is the published figure, not a starting point ¹².

Fifty per cent starts the work and the balance falls due on delivery ¹. Payment runs through Pesapal by M-Pesa, Tigo Pesa, Airtel Money or card ². The clock is five working days from a cleared deposit and a locked brief, with one script round, one round on the cut and notes consolidated ¹⁴. The monthly tiers are billed monthly in advance, and half of the first month starts the work ¹⁰.

Can mobile money pay a studio invoice?

The shilling tiers were set to sit under the daily mobile-money ceiling, so that a client does not need to split a payment. In May 2020 the Bank of Tanzania raised the daily mobile-money transaction limit to TZS 5,000,000, from TZS 3,000,000, and the daily balance limit to TZS 10,000,000, from TZS 5,000,000 ⁸. The largest published monthly fee, Mandate, is TZS 4,200,000, which is TZS 800,000 under that figure, and its deposit is TZS 2,100,000.

That report is the one primary-sourced figure found for the limit, and it dates from 2020. The current limit for a given wallet is set by the Bank of Tanzania and the mobile-money operator, and the payer confirms it with the operator before a large payment.

Transfer charges form a second check. A Bank of Tanzania circular of 30 April 2025, effective 1 July 2025, caps the charges on bank to e-wallet and e-wallet to bank transfers in amount bands, and its top band is for transfers above TZS 500,000 ⁹. Mark One at TZS 350,000 sits below that band edge, and Mandate sits above it. Whether a given payment through Pesapal attracts a charge in a band is a question for the payer's bank or wallet provider.

Is the price the same for clients outside Tanzania?

No. The export ladder is a separate ladder in US dollars. It is set at the published global rate and benchmarked on the pricing page against named vendors, with the date each figure was read ¹. The cost base in Dar es Salaam funds the work quietly and is never the pitch.

ManyPixels and Designjoy sell design subscriptions, not animated video, so the comparison shows how a monthly creative retainer is priced, not what the work contains. The pricing page states that benchmark figures are the vendors' own published prices and are comparisons, not endorsements ¹.

How do the shilling and dollar ladders relate?

They are separate. A shilling price is not a converted dollar price, and a dollar price is not a converted shilling price. Mark One is TZS 350,000 on the home ladder and USD 500 on the export ladder ¹².

One package is priced only in shillings. The company profile package, a designed document and a 90-second film at TZS 1,200,000, is priced in TZS, and a buyer outside Tanzania pays the TZS figure converted on the day of payment ³.

What rule keeps a private number honest?

The rule is short: never send a price without a link to the page it came from. A quote on WhatsApp or by email repeats a line of the ladder and names the page. The buyer can then open the page, compare the line and forward it to the person who approves the spend.

The rule also limits the studio. If the scope is on the list, the number is the number, and the only item left to agree is the start date ¹. A figure that differs from the page is a quote for scope outside the list, and it says so in writing.

What does a published price not do?

A published price does not mean every job fits the list. A job outside the list is scoped in writing, and that is the only purpose of a quote. The published terms also leave some matters outside the fee.

• Media spend for ads runs on the client's own card and sits outside any retainer ¹.
• A change to the proposition after script approval is a new order at the entry rate ⁴.
• Animation beyond 60 seconds is scoped in five-day blocks ⁴.
• A first delivery has seven days for review, with a defined partial refund if it is not accepted ¹.
• Results from paid advertising depend on the media, the offer and the market, and the studio controls the work, not the result ².

What does a printed price let an approver check?

An approver reads a quote for four things: what is bought, when it arrives, what is excluded and what happens if the work is not accepted. A published ladder puts the first three on one page and the fourth on the pricing page ¹. Each can be read by someone who was not in the room.

• What is bought: the package line, with pieces, formats and languages.
• When it arrives: five working days from a cleared deposit and a locked brief.
• What is excluded: media spend, a changed proposition, animation beyond 60 seconds.
• What follows a rejection: seven days of review and a defined partial refund.

A call can cover all four, but only a page lets the approver confirm them later, and only a page lets a second approver, an accountant or a donor reach the same reading.

What does the fixed price cover in the five working days?

The scope behind a Mark One fee is the same each time. The studio writes the script, so the client supplies the proposition and the brand assets, not the words ⁴. The table sets out the stages and the rounds that the fee includes.

Three client rounds are included: one on the script, one on the animatic and one on the cut. A slip against the clock is flagged on day two ¹¹.

Which tax and registration points sit outside the ladder?

The ladder pages read for this note state the fee and the terms of payment. They do not state a VAT treatment, so the written order is where the buyer and the studio confirm whether VAT applies and how the invoice is addressed. On the Mainland, the treatment is confirmed with the Tanzania Revenue Authority. Zanzibar has its own registry and revenue authority and needs separate confirmation.

A buyer who is itself registered for tax gives its tax identification and registered name at the start, so that the invoice and the deposit match.

What does one month on the ladder cost?

The table shows why the tiers cannot be compared on price per piece alone. Mandate costs more per piece than Momentum because it carries the landing page, the search work and the measurement. Mandate is also 12 times Mark One in fee (4,200,000 over 350,000) for 20 times the pieces.

How Zatra Consultants and NEMBO handle this

Zatra Consultants Limited authors and checks the content and the figures. NEMBO designs, produces and delivers. The client deals with one desk. Short documents are targeted at under 30 minutes from complete details, standard documents take hours, and research documents are dated in the written quote. A video package runs on its own clock of five working days from a cleared deposit and a locked brief ¹.

No outcome is promised. The desk does not decide or guarantee any platform's approval of an advert, any bank's or panel's decision, or the result of paid media. It supplies the work and the page the price came from.

What to do now

1. Find the line Open the shilling page or the dollar page and find the package that matches the scope.
2. Check the terms Read the clock, the revision rounds and the exclusions, including media spend.
3. Assemble the brief Prepare the logo in SVG or EPS, the palette, the single proposition, the destination URL and any footage or stills already owned.
4. Confirm tax and invoice details Ask for the written order to state the VAT treatment and the registered name for the invoice.
5. Pay the deposit Pay 50 per cent through Pesapal. The five working days run from a cleared deposit and a locked brief.