Minister of Industry (Commerce and Consumer Protection)

1. Mauritius is currently going through a phase of transformation from a middle income to high income country. How do you think this moment has to be managed in order to sustain growth?

Mauritius has successfully diversified from a sugar-based economy into manufacturing, tourism, financial services, Freeport activities, Information and Communication Technology, and Medical Tourism. Mauritius has developed a conducive business environment. It is ranked first in Africa and 20^th globally in the World Bank “Ease of Doing Business 2014”.  Major factors have contributed to Mauritius becoming an attractive investment destination. These include our political and social stability, a pro-business environment, a pool of qualified labor force, high level of protection to investors and rule of law.  We also enjoy preferential and duty-free market access to the EU under Economic Partnership Agreement, the US under AGOA and Southern and Eastern Africa under the SADC and COMESA Free Trade Agreements. 

New developments are expected to accentuate growth in the manufacturing sector.  These are a World class Airport and airport infrastructure, the extension of the seaport, the development of a Petroleum Hub with increase in bunkering trade facilities, the modernization of land transport with proposed Light Rail Transit and the emergence of a knowledge-based economy.

We do recognize that we have a lot of challenges ahead. The challenges facing the Mauritian economy stem from both the domestic and international fronts, namely our lack of natural resources, the erosion of trade preferences and a lack of specialized skills in emerging sub sectors such as the biotechnology and medical devices.

However, Mauritius is extending its economic space and activities beyond its frontier towards Africa with its Expanded Africa Strategy.  Investors could use Mauritius as a Gateway to tap the preferential African market with its buoyant emerging economies through COMESA and SADC.

In fact, Mauritius can leverage on many advantages such as its multi-cultural society, a tropical environment, an open economy, closeness to a vast African market, a predictable economic environment with sound macro-economic fundamentals and a business community with entrepreneurial flair.

Mauritius has successfully overcome challenges of remoteness from global markets and erosion of trade preferences by leveraging on non-price factors such as product quality, technology, innovation and high quality service. New opportunities will become increasingly evident though the expanded Africa Strategy, an increasing number of bilateral agreements, diversification into new markets and greater focus on development of multi-skilling.

2. One of the challenges faced on the Industrial sector is to develop businesses that generate benefits, but always taking care of the final consumer. What is the relationship between the ministry and the private sector in order to achieve this balance?

As a mixed economy, Mauritius has always been a country with strong collaboration between public and private sector on major issues.It is clearly understood that the private sector is the main growth engine to undertake investment, trade, and employment creation whilst the public sector acts as facilitator to the private sector.

Such collaboration is vital to have a shared understanding of the needs of the sector and to come up with appropriate support measures. The spirit of private and public sector dialogue has invariably characterized policy making in Mauritius.

As far as manufacturing sector is concerned, there has been a long tradition of collaboration between public and private sector through structured meetings and regular consultations. The introduction of the Mauritian Export Processing Zone Act in the early seventies was the result of collaboration of public officials and entrepreneurs of the private sector undertaking a joint mission to inquire about the setting up of a Free Zone for export.

The role of public sector is to provide an enabling environment to the private sector. A number of facilities after consultation with the private sector have been put in place so that the private enterprises can upgrade, modernize, restructure and be in a better position to face competition. Such measures include the National Resilience Fund (NRF), the Import loan facilities, Factoring Scheme, Leasing and Equipment Modernization Scheme, the Mauritius Business Growth Scheme (MBGS) to assist enterprises for enhancing competitiveness.

My Ministry has recently set up an Industrial Steering Committee, a joint public-private sector structure, with the major objective is to address cross cutting issues and facilitate a new phase of industrial development.

The government and the private sector are in consultation on a permanent basis. They realize that they both have a role to play and it is not the same one. The bottom line of the private sector is to make profit and on the other side, our bottom line is the human added value, we are not looking after profits but after the people. The government and the private sector have to work together to find a convergence in their actions.

3. Environmental sustainability is a matter that concerns all companies in all industries nowadays. How do you promote to operate effectively but also in a sustainable way, in Mauritius?

We created a project called “Maurice Île Durable”. In response to the global energy crisis in 2007, Government became fully conscious of the importance of promoting renewable energy and sustainable development for the well being of its citizens. In 2008, the Prime Minister, Dr. Navinchandra Ramgoolam announced the Maurice Île Durable (MID) concept, as being the new long-term vision for making Mauritius a sustainable island. The main objective of the Maurice Île Durable concept is to make Mauritius a world model of sustainable development, particularly in the context of SIDS (Small Island Developing States).

At the level of my ministry we are promoting what we call green industry; addressing our initiatives and efforts to rationalize the use of energy or water, and to reduce the pollution. On the other side, we are working on social sustainability. The democratization of the economy is a priority for us – it is important to break up the circles of opportunities for monopolies and to open these circles to everybody.

4. Mauritius counts with several commercial partners due to its geographical position, attractive financial incentives or well governance policies. Just recently, for example, an agreement with China was signed for export of sea products. What are the criteria when creating strategic alliances and how do you reinforce these relationships?

The concept of partnerships and strategic alliances is ingrained in the Mauritian industrial architecture since a long time. This model of business cooperation has been greatly beneficial to our industry to promote technology transfer, access new markets, develop manpower skills, enhance brand awareness and acquire supplementary business services without putting in extra time and capital. 

These partnerships and strategic alliances have survived over the years as they are not one-sided but rather based on unselfishly collaboration that are beneficial for the growth and prosperity of the concerned organizations.

Today partnerships and strategic alliances are present in all economic spheres such as banking, insurance, health, industry, commerce, telecoms, finance, and services.  Globally established companies such as France Telecom, Huawei Technologies, Apollo Group of Hospitals, Fortis Hospital, Price Waterhouse Coopers and Ernst & Young,  amongst others, have long standing business ties with domestic entities. In Mauritius, we firmly believe that our enterprises and business organizations have much to gain through partnerships and strategic alliances with multinationals and other global leaders.

As Government, we have already put in place a host of measures in terms of ease of doing business, legal and administrative reforms, fiscal measures and intellectual property rights to create a more conducive environment propitious for the establishment of partnerships and strategic alliances.

There must be a win-win situation and also a feeling of trust. What is really important concerning our relationship with China is that we were among the first countries to adopt a China Policy in 1972. The Chinese-origin population in Mauritius is small but really active economically and socially. It has been 42 years that we have an exclusive diplomatic relationship with China, we can see that loyalty is something really important for them and is also something valued here in Mauritius.

5. You mentioned, the USA is one of your strategic market destinations for local and foreign investors. What is the main asset the North American market has to offer and what is your approach?

We do business with them mainly through the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which was signed in the late nineties. Mauritius has been extremely active in promoting and in lobbying for AGOA. Today all our exports to the USA are done through it. We do not have a lot of American investment in Mauritius. I have the impression that for American investors or companies we seem to be a little too far away and it’s sometimes difficult to attract them to come and do business here. The USA represents a huge market for our garments and textile products.

To reach this market we have two resident consultants; one in the east and the other one on the west coast who are looking after our interests in the USA. We also send delegations from time to time to the textile fairs. And we keep in touch with old buyers there.

6. One of the ministry’s wills in 2013 was to transform Mauritius into a regional supply center for petroleum products. What have you achieved so far? What is your plan for the medium and long term?

Petroleum products are statutory monopoly of the State Trading Corporation, a government agency under my ministry. Last year we imported around 1.3 million tons of fuel, from which 300 000 tons are only for ships. I think that this business can grow much more and if it hasn’t, it’s probably due to the supply constraints, the financial crisis and the shipping routes. On the other side, we don’t have a huge storage capacity for the moment, making it impossible for us to keep large stocks and respond immediately to some demands.

We have done two main things - First of all, we have increased the bunker business by changing the conditions, that is by semi-liberalizing the importation of bunker fuel and reducing expenses. Secondly, we have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the fuel companies, agreeing that they should respect their previous deals with the STC and keep on buying from us the usual quantity. Any additional business can be done only if this MOU is respected.

 We are in the process of extending and modernizing the port area in order to be able to supply to the region. We are aware that in order to develop a petroleum hub it’s important for us to have important storage facilities and that is why we are currently working on the construction of storage facilities for petroleum products.

7. Before been appointed Minister of Industry, Commerce and Consumer protection you had a long history working on the private sector, especially in the Nestlé Group. Looking back at all these years of experience what do you feel most proud of?

I am very satisfied with everything that I have done. That doesn’t mean that if you could give me the opportunity to do it again I will do it in the same way. I think is a matter of temperament - I am more public service orientated than private sector orientated. I worked for 18 years in the Nestlé Group and it was a satisfying experience. I was in charge of the Indian Ocean Islands; I have worked in South Africa, Europe, Singapore, and Malaysia. That was a lot of exposure, a lot of experience and expertise. I learned a lot during those years but I am happy with what I am doing now. I think politics and the public service suit my temperament. What I am doing today is a natural flow of what I was doing before.

8. To conclude this interview, your Excellency, our readers are more interested on the leaders we interview than on the company or institution itself. In that context, what message would you like to send to our worldwide readers of HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW?

I would like to stress on the fact that Mauritius is not only a tourism destination but also a promising investment and business destination. In fact, Mauritius has a good story to tell - an interesting story of economic success, of social integration, of social cohesion, of democracy and of good public and private governance. It’s a good story of social balance to tell to the world. Even without any mineral resources, we have been able to run a country, to keep on having an economic growth, and to keep on progressing and improving the quality of life of our citizens. At the same time we have been able to ensure the sustainability, which is really important. Mauritius is definitely a good business proposition. In conclusion, I think we deserve more attention and recognition for who we are and what we are doing.