Two Seychelles entrepreneurs have a vision for the island's agricultural sector to use only fertilizers and soil amendments made from seaweed. (Romano Lawrence, Seychelles News Agency)
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(Seychelles News Agency) – The Seychelles government says it is making the island nation's business environment more friendly to investors, but two Seychelles entrepreneurs say it is not yet friendly enough. There is.
The two entrepreneurs have a vision for the island nation's agricultural sector to use only fertilizers and soil amendments made from seaweed. But their plans need support from local governments.
Bernard and Benjamin Port-Lewis told SNA that they face many challenges in running their seaweed factory. Barnard said: “We have invested SCR 20 million ($1.5 million) in the form of a factory, but we are still struggling to secure additional space to dry seaweed, so we are not fully operational. We haven't been able to get it up and running,” he said. ”
The father and son team said drying the seaweed is an important step in processing. The company's seaweed factory, Seaweed Seychelles, also produces crushed cooked and dried seaweed for soil improvement.
Seaweed Seychelles is located on the artificial island of Yves, just off the coast of Praslin Island, the second most populous island in Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean.
Barnard said the company has been writing to government departments since 2016 to acquire additional land, but to no avail.
“We have written to all relevant ministries and are still waiting for responses. We are disappointed that we feel there is no support for this type of innovation, which is the brainchild of Seychellois,” said Benjamin. he said.
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| Benjamin said there are countries that have approached Seychelles Seaweed and are interested in the product. (Seychelles News Agency, Salifah Karapetian) Photo license: CC-BY |
Bernard said she has done everything she can but is disappointed by the lack of support. “I would say that the ease of doing business in Seychelles is not suitable for Seychellois,” Bernard added.
“Because of this project and because of my desire to do something for my country, I decided to finish my studies and return to my country,” Benjamin said.
“What I can say is that the government recognizes the importance of the private sector as a key driver of the economy and is committed to investing in making it easier to do business. We're reconsidering the framework,'' in the Seychelles. ”
“Government recently approved the Seychelles Investment Policy, which aims to provide guidance to public authorities involved in the regulation of business operations for the purpose of policies and requirements,” said Nalethamby. Its purpose is to increase consistency between relevant regulatory bodies when dealing with investments and business operations. ”
Peter Roseley, Member Seychelles Chamber of Commerce and Industry He, who has been involved in nurturing entrepreneurs for the past 15 years, said it was time for the country to talk about solving problems instead of continuing to talk about what is wrong in the business sector.
“We need to address these issues. When we talk about ease of doing business, we need to think about the difficulties that we Seychellois face in doing business. On the other hand, there is a strong focus on foreign direct investment,'' Rosely said.
According to the latest World Bank annual assessment, Seychelles ranks 95th out of 190 countries in ease of doing business. The chief executive of Seychelles Investment AuthorityCindy Vidot said the board is conducting market research to identify barriers to investment on the island.
“The study will cover indicators such as access to finance, access to information, land, infrastructure development, review of procedures and investment policy,” Bidot said.
According to Benjamin, there are countries that have approached Seychelles seaweed and are interested in its products. “By the way, we are the first in the world to extract liquid fertilizer from this type of seaweed called sargassum,” his son explained.
The team said that if it does not receive the necessary support from local authorities, it will be forced to move abroad to conduct its business.
“The seaweed factory is a good project because I recently saw on the news that the Chinese have developed a drug to treat Alzheimer's disease from seaweed. This initiative should be supported,” Rosely said. Entrepreneurship is all about support,” she concludes Roselie.
Meanwhile, the investment ministry's principal secretary said, “Promulgating investment policies, streamlining investment procedures and establishing minimum standards for business will make the environment for starting, operating and developing businesses much easier. “I'm optimistic,” he said. Naretanbee.
