Africa-Press – Mauritius. Mrs Jyoti Jeetun had a successful record of setting up and piloting the SIT to become the largest shareholder company in the sugar sector before she had to find her living overseas for several years.
She is now back in Mauritius as CEO of the Mont Choisy Group, involved in development of smart cities. She credits her achievements to the strong values that were inculcated in the family and social environment where she was raised, namely the village of Triolet where hard work was the order of the day for anyone who wanted to go up the social ladder.
She shares her views on the current problems facing the country and youth such as drugs, lack of opportunities, etc. , which are making talent flee from the country. She hopes for better days to come. She would like to build a society where there is integrity, meritocracy, and fairness and no left-behinds.
You started off from humble origins in a Bhojpuri-speaking environment in Triolet and went on to head the Sugar Investment Trust as its founding CEO.
You are now involved, as the CEO of the Mont Choisy Group, with the development of a Smart City. Tell us about your journey and how you made it happen?
Jyoti Jeetun: My life is the story of countless people of my generation who grew up in poverty around the independence era.
I grew up in Triolet at a time when the standard of living was quite basic, people lived off very little and almost everything in the village was centered around sugarcane cultivation.
Yet the whole village was like a small community of diverse ethnic groups and religions, a bit like a miniature Mauritius. We only spoke Bhojpuri at home.
When I started primary school, I did not speak a word of Kreol, let alone English and French. It was also the time when few girls progressed beyond primary education, and I was inevitably predestined to stay at home helping mum with house chores.
Had it not been for the fight of my elder brothers, I would never have gone to college. I had, and still have, a deep hunger for learning and knowledge. In fact, the story of my life is built on Education, Education and Education. Every step of my journey has been shaped by investment in education.
Thus, free education in 1977 was a game changer for me and for thousands of young people of my time, especially girls, as often parents had to make a choice about who to send to college, and boys would always win the battle.
It was my first step on the social mobility escalator. I think what growing up in that environment provided me with was a culture of hard work, determination and resilience.
Our parents and all the people in our neighbourhood were very hardworking people, toiling in the fields to feed their families. There was a sense of discipline and rigour that was ingrained in our way of life.
We went to afternoon classes in the baitka which enriched us not just with knowledge of Hindi but also with cultural values – “sanskar” – and humility. And I continued investing myself in learning throughout this journey combining studies with work and raising a family. This led to my MBA and a PhD.
I started my career as a Government Civil Servant and this journey took me to the Sugar Investment Trust (SIT), then to the City in London, to Brussels and now back to Mont Choisy Group.
There were lots of challenges, struggles and adversities on the way. But I would like to believe that all these are valuable experiences in life that shape the person you become.
I have come a long way on that social mobility escalator but to be quite honest, deep down, I remain ene zenfant villaz and I am very proud of my humble background.
* Besides personal merit and a lot of hard work, were such things like meeting the right people, being there at the right time, obtaining some form of patronage, especially political — which many people now believe is necessary for career advancement or even for obtaining a breakthrough in the first place — important considerations when you started off or even along the way?
Absolutely and unequivocally not. There is no shortcut to achieving long-term success other than hard work coupled with the right attitude and values.
When you are passionate about something, whether it is a personal venture or your work, you put 200% of yourself into it. You do not chase success; success comes your way as a result or as an outcome of your work.
Yes, there have been many people in my life who have held my hand – my brothers, my teachers, my husband, my chairmen and my friends, some of whom stood by me during our dark days.
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