Africa-Press – Mauritius. As highlighted in their last newsletter issue, the Ministry of Industrial Development, SMEs and Cooperatives (SMEs Division) continues to set up facilities to support entrepreneurs, and encourage citizens to engage in entrepreneurship.
In this context, several measures to encourage entrepreneurs and trainees to transform their acquired knowledge into a business in order to contribute to the socio-economic development of the country have been initiated by the SME Division.
The SME Employment Scheme has been extended to June 2022 to cater for an additional 700 graduates and 300 diploma holders after its successful achievement both in concept and delivery.
The Scheme will also be extended to Mauritius Qualifications Authority (MQA) approved holders of TVET Level 3 qualifications in, namely: plumbing, electrical, culinary skills and, automotive mechanics and electronics, amongst others to be placed in SMEs so as to bridge the skills gap and further reduce unemployment among youths.
The objective is to allow trainees to benefit from real work experience thus consolidating their career path and, at the same time, allow SMEs to gain from the right skills and competencies of these trainees.
A leather studio, comprising 15 machines with latest technologies, was inaugurated in August 2021, in Coromandel, by SME Mauritius to redynamise the leather industry and help Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to develop high-end products prototypes as well as enable entrepreneurs to adapt themselves to modern and clean technologies.
In addition, the SME Mauritius Business Support Centre of Bel Air was also renovated and inaugurated in June 2021. This sub-office, with an upgraded training room, has been renovated to include working spaces and a meeting room as well as to offer a wide array of facilities to Mauritian entrepreneurs.
Furthermore, three days training for frontliners were carried out in the three outstations of SME Mauritius, namely, at Rose-Belle, Bel Air and Goodlands, in the context of the reopening of the Mauritian borders so as to prepare SMEs of the tourism sector.
The training was held by SME Mauritius in collaboration with Inbound Tourism Promoters Association (ITPA) and Tourism Business Intelligent (TBI) and included topics such as sanitary protocols, road safety and hospitality.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on E-Commerce with the Mauritius Post Ltd on 29 July 2021 as well as the signature of a Financing Agreement under the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Trade Related Facility (TRF) for an amount of €1.4 million between Mauritius and the SADC Secretariat in March 2017 are also among the key measures taken to boost the SME sector.
The purpose of the MoU is to provide registered SMEs and Cooperatives preferential tariffs to market their products on the E-Commerce platform developed by the Mauritius Post Ltd due to the recent migration of the Mauritius Post Ltd to the Global Post System. The objective of the financial agreement under the SADC TRF is to improve the country’s participation in regional and international trade.
Under this agreement, a project on Productivity and Improvement Programme (PIP) was implemented and, in this context, the Japan Productivity Centre (JPC) Consultancy firm conducted PIPs for 27 manufacturing companies of Mauritius from December 2020 to June 2021 so as to enhance the productivity and competitiveness of the manufacturing companies.
In a bid to guide those wishing to start their business and become entrepreneurs, the SME Registration Unit of the Ministry equally offers several services, including: issue and renewal of Registration Certificates as SMEs; provide support and information to facilitate obtention of any registration permit, licence, authorisation or other clearance an enterprise may need and; compile and report on statistics about registered SMEs.
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