The President and Vice-President of the Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI),

The Secretary-General of MCCI,

Distinguished Guests,

My UNDP colleagues,

Members of the Press,

Ladies and Gentlemen, Good Morning!

Allow me to say a few words about the partnership to be launched today between the Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the United Nations Development Programme for the ‘Setting Up of a Business Intelligence Platform for the SADC Region’. This event marks the beginning of a renewed partnership and long-term collaboration, not only between our two institutions but also with the Mauritian business community which the MCCI represents.

This partnership commitment comes at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic is having a big impact on the Mauritian economy. The Gross Value Added at basic prices and Gross Domestic Product at market prices is forecasted to contract by around 13.0% in 2020, the worst contraction since 1980. Domestic demand is expected to be weak whilst the tourism and export manufacturing sectors will be severely affected. It is estimated that there could be up to 100,000 job losses in the private sector.

Ladies and Gentlemen

This week, the UNDP Mauritius Country Office with assistance from Government of Japan released the results of a survey, conducted in partnership with Statistics Mauritius and Business Mauritius, on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the business community in Mauritius. The survey which covered local companies, small, medium and large, operating in 20 sectors shows that the hardest impact, as might be expected, occurred during lockdown, when 64% of the companies surveyed ceased all operations, while 77% of SMEs did the same. The impact on profitability has been significant for companies, with 77% of them reporting a drop in profits; while a decrease in sales has been reported for 74% of the companies surveyed. The survey also found that the decrease in demand is system-wide for almost all companies, regardless of their size. Undoubtedly, the SADC region faces similar impacts on its member states’ economies.

In such a difficult context, businesses must reinvent themselves to cope with weak domestic demand and face the challenges in the export markets. Business intelligence (BI) can be one of the solutions to respond to this unique situation. Advances in information technology have made it possible for business organisations to accumulate large amounts of data, whether internal or external, through their business processes. By comparing historical and current data, predictive modeling can ensure effective decision making.  It is critical that such data can be analyzed to produce concrete business intelligence rapidly so that local companies, especially SMEs, can leverage opportunities in the current volatile business environment.

As part of its inclusive and multi-sectoral response strategy to COVID-19, the UNDP in Mauritius is providing assistance on a number of initiatives, which include supporting a whole-of-government and whole-of-society response by working across key sectors including health, social welfare and financial inclusion to slow the spread of the virus and to provide protection for vulnerable populations; to assess the social and economic impact of COVID-19; and, plan for and undertake urgent recovery measures, especially for poor and marginalized groups.

Regarding the business community, the UNDP Country Office in Mauritius made a call for proposals among non-profit organisations for the setting up of a Business Intelligence Platform in the Republic of Mauritius to promote the dissemination of key business data for entrepreneurs based in Mauritius and the SADC region to explore new markets. I would like to commend the MCCI for responding with a well-developed concept and initiative.

This pilot project which is receiving the support from UNDP for the amount of 1.8Million MUR will be implemented by the MCCI through its IT partners to set up an integrated Business Intelligence Platform for Mauritius initially and thereafter for the SADC region.

The project will benefit members of the business community, including SMEs and local entrepreneurs, together with Government entities in the SADC regions through:

·       Provision of a tool to curate and analyze data to reveal actionable insights that can help improve decision-making.

·       Promote synergy between SADC countries in terms of economic indicators, sectoral analysis, and to compare the competitiveness of sectors across various economies of the region.

·       Enhance regional cooperation and integration of the SADC region in terms of availability of concurrent business and economic statistics, trade, import and export statistics, data analytics to help countries to reposition themselves as centers of excellence in key sectors.

·       Improve access to business knowledge.

Ladies and Gentlemen

Let me close by saying that at UNDP we look forward to seeing the results of this partnership with MCCI to contribute to a more positive outlook for businesses and entrepreneurs based in Mauritius and the SADC region in the current volatile business environment.