State-owned firms should lead by example, says minister |20 September 2017

Subsidiaries and associate companies of Société Seychelloise D’Invéstissement (SSI) have benefitted from a workshop on the promotion of accountability, transparency and good governance.

The workshop, organised in collaboration with the Public Enterprise Monitoring Committee (PEMC), was conducted yesterday at the STC conference room and aimed to build synergy with state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

SSI currently holds shares in 15 SOEs including Nouvobanq, Islands Development Company, L’Union Estate, with more companies joining SSI by the end of the year.

In his opening address the Minister for Industry, Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation Wallace Cosgrow said that all SOEs should lead by example to assure and make sure state funds are being invested judiciously.

He further added that the government as the ultimate shareholder is expecting a more independent, transparent and performance based manner of doing business.

Minister Cosgrow’s speech was followed by presentations from SSI and PEMC to make attendees better aware of their mandates and the elements which differentiate the two entities.

While SSI is the holding company for government shares in certain SOEs the PEMC has, since its inception in 2013, been entrusted with the task of overseeing the performance of all public enterprises.

This involves making sure these enterprises function effectively and practice corporate good governance.

Directors and other members of the SOEs present showed great interest pertaining to the inner workings of the PEMC during the subsequent deliberations.

The key issue which was debated upon was the fact that the PEMC Act of 2013 overlapped with several other legislations such as the Companies Act and the Financial Institution Act.

“We are currently reviewing the PEMC Act to make sure all these Acts work in accordance with each other and avoid confusion,” responded Georges Tirant, the chief executive of PEMC. This is expected to be finalised by the beginning of next year.

Participants also engaged in group discussions on good governance, dividend and statement of corporate intent to come up with recommendations.

The dividend group concluded that SSI cannot have a dividend policy which is one size fit all thus SSI should meet with individual SOEs yearly to discuss dividend payments.

The good governance group discussion involved aspects of good governance currently impacting SOEs such as better, more efficient reports and costly outsourcing.

As for the discussion surrounding statement of corporate intent, it was recommended that SSI should reflect government strategies, and make data and statistics publicly available.

All of these recommendations will be taken into consideration by the SSI as stated by the chief executive of SSI, Rupert Simeon.

“This workshop is also a networking opportunity where we listen to these SOEs,” he said.

Yesterday’s workshop is the first in a series of workshops planned by SSI. Other topics will include employment, taxation, among others.