Letter to the Editor-We craftsmen are handicapped by unfair competition |04 November 2008

Before we go on to explore and comment on the content of this letter, we would like to seize the opportunity to congratulate Senpa’s chief executive officer for the excellent job she and her staff are doing to promote the entrepreneurial spirit in Seychelles and also to thank her for her timely and appropriate intervention, made on our behalf, as far as the unfair competition we are now facing is concerned.

For many years now, despite all the efforts made by the government and Senpa to promote us as small entrepreneurs, and despite all our efforts and devotion in adapting ourselves to contribute our fair share to our country’s development, we have been facing circumstances which have handicapped our operations and we have also met undue competition from some self-centred and egotistical individuals whose unscrupulous intention has always been profit-making at all cost.

How many of us, especially those involved in the craft sector for instance, are today facing undue competition from unscrupulous individuals who, instead of promoting local skills, prefer to take copies of the items originally made in Seychelles to Thailand, Malaysia, Mauritius etc, where they have them reproduced.

With the availability of cheap manpower and abundance of cheap raw materials in the above countries, they can get any item reproduced, in many instances for an eighth of what it costs us to produce here.

The saddest part of all is the fact that the very same people, weeks later, are back in Seychelles and competing against us local craftsmen, invading the market with their “made in Thailand, Mauritius and Malaysia” items at half the price that we are selling them for and yet branding them as “made in Seychelles” craftwork.

How many curio shops, including some found in hotels, are today selling craft items from foreign lands and yet claiming they are made in Seychelles? Is it right as a nation that we continue to allow profiteers to take the innovative ideas of our Seychellois brothers and make counterfeits of them?

Is it unfair that Senpa’s CEO, as the very person responsible for the development and promotion of the sector, stands and defends our rights?

Yes, what we are saying is indeed based on facts.
At this crucial economic crossroads we today face, we need, as President Michel in his recent speech to the nation rightfully reminded us, to put country before self.

A Group of Artisans