The experience of Mauritius

57th Congress in Cameroon 23-30 October, 2009

Aline Wong

Food Crisis◦ Increase in household food budget (CSO)

- higher prices of meat and sugar;- higher prices of some ready-made clothing; - higher prices of gasoline and diesel; and- lower prices of milk.

International economic Crisis◦ Retrenchment in EPZ (figures)

Elimination trade protection◦ Increased competition with China in garment ◦ Fall of 36% in sugar prices

Increasing oil prices◦ Increase of 15-20% of operational costs of enterprises

without being able pas on cost increases on their products

A concrete approach to address increasing poverty pressures in a context of economic downturn and uncertainty , and restricted public funds.

Review of personal income tax regime Introduction of a campment tax Review of cost of annual lease of

government land Corporate tax maintained at 15% , but with

an additional commitment of 2% for Corporate Social Responsibility projects

Restructuring of MRA Tax on residential property Donor agencies Soft loans negotiated with major trade

partners

Job fairs for unemployed groups affected by retrenchment ( June 2007 onwards)

Workfare programme since (Feb 2009 onwards)

Mix of work and training scheme Placement for training programme Espace des metiers (Oct 2009) Faster business registration (3 days) Special Programme for Unemployed Women

Budget of Rs1 billion (about US$40 million)◦ Mix of assistance and soft loans for group projects

Objective: To reduce imports in the island and achieve food sufficiency

Public private partnership: Sugar companies have made about 400 hectares of land available to the government

Farmers who register with the programme and would also get technical advice to operate in an industrial approach.

Constraints Actions undertaken

Access to credit DBM : 9%, MPCB: 8.5%, Bank One: 11.35%, ownership of immovable property no longer a condition + CSR

Access to land Food Security Fund programme: Support for land clearing and soft loans for start-up expenditures (building, purchase of animals) + access to land

Access to information

Sensitisation and mobilisation through Women Centers, regional workfare and entrepreneurship programmes, sensitisation of socio-cultural groups and NGOs, hotline, regular radio ads + development of dedicated radio programme for women empowerment

Access to tailor-made business development assistance

Support for project preparation and assessment of feasibilityFocus on innovation (products, services)Structuring of “filieres” to enable business and employment creationFunding of capacity building programmes (less theoretical, more practical )Institution of a mentoring scheme for start-ups

Stages Issues NeedsOrientation towards work

Assessment of skills set / aptitudes / interestsAvailability - timeLimited knowledge of work requirements

Ability to handle new challenges

Skills / aptitudes test

Personal profiling for commitmentsInformation sharing about industry, basic pay rates , rights etc.

Life skills / marketing of own services

Entrepreneurship orientation

Low innovation in products

Training not related to business realities

Limited capacity in preparing bankable projects

Review product development cycle

Encourage market testingAction learning, capacity building in direct sales, support for preparation of first brochures

Facilitate project preparation

Successfully obtained credit

Close monitoring to avoid teething problems Sustained capacity building

Mentoring

Negotiations, small business management, finance etc.

Failure of pure re-skilling◦ Re-skilling needs to be accompanied by internships◦ Training and placement mechanism enables

provides an entry into enterprises with opportunities of employment offers

Need for Life Skills in order to reinforce◦ Self confidence◦ Endurance◦ Facilitate reorganisation of family life and allow

enterprise level access

Support to SMEs facing finanical difficulties due to the global financial crisis by way of equity supporting working capital requirements in the restructuring process. ◦ Government participates at 75% in the

restructuring process and ◦ The SME injects 25%

Leasing facilities for acquisition and modernisation of equipments◦ Lending rate at 8.5%◦ Max lease amout of Rs 50 mn◦ Initial down-payment of 10%

SMEs in manufacturing and tourism sectors facing a reduction in their turnover may obtain financial assistance for training offered to their employees as an alternative to lay off their workers at shop floor level (rank and file and first line supervisors)

An opportunity for an unemployed to gain an in-company placement coupled with a work-related formal training so as to make them employable

Booster loan of the Development Bank of Mauritius ◦ RoI: 9% ◦ Up to Rs 100,000

Mauritius Post and Cooperatives Bank◦ RoI: 8.5%◦ Rs 40,000 per person, up to Rs 400,000 for projects

involving 10 women

Bank One◦ RoI: 11.35%◦ Rs 50,000 – Rs 500,000

From spores to mushroom bags

Mushroom bags sold to women entrepreneurs

Mushroom cultivated bought back and sold to hotels

Self sustainable without any Government grant or technical support

Mushroom Cultivation

• Electricity services

• Plumbing services• Home

maintenance• Gardening etc.

Exchange of information and advice with experienced mentors

Business planning and project follow-up assistance

Financial contribution of 10% by beneficiary

• Access to information

• One stop shop with all institutions

• 9,000 mobilised in 2 yrs

Understanding the aspirations, interests, dreams and constraints of each individual

The different faces of start-

ups

• 3 days of direct sales training

• 4 days of participation in fair

• Instigating a taste for personal contact and direct sales

• All products sold out • Thanks to innovativeness of

products• > Rs 1 mn of new orders

How is your product unique?

• Market testing

• Product development

• Food lab analysis analysis

• Bar Code registration

•Brand development

•Coming soon: Products in Super markets

• Initiation of duck farms• Corporate Social

Responsibility support for egg incubation

• Value added: Samoussas “bourguignon de canard “ ,

• Frozen dishes ready to eat: “Canard a la vanille, Canard a l’orange”

Where there is a WILL,

there is a WAY.

BE CONFIDENT AND DARE…

Thank youAline Wong