Commonwealth luncheon centred on young entrepreneurs |21 April 2018

 A young participant interacting with the panelists

To celebrate and promote the values of the Commonwealth and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2018 currently being held in London, the British high commission in Seychelles yesterday hosted the last series of four theme lunches.

 Known as the ‘Big Lunches’, the luncheons are based on the different themes of the four pillars of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2018.

The final luncheon was held at the residence of the British high commission at Bel Air, under the theme ‘A more prosperous future’.

The invitees to the big lunch were representatives of different youth organisations and young entrepreneurs.

Apart from the lunch, they engaged in a one and a half hour discussions on business opportunities in Seychelles, especially in the blue economy, entrepreneurship barriers and how to overcome challenges in these sectors.

The young delegates gathered knowledge and advice on how to turn a good idea into a viable business, how to present them and how to get the finance and to make it sustainable.

While lunching, they interacted with a panel, chaired by the British high commissioner, Caron Röhsler, and which also saw the participation of Daniel Gappy from the Development Bank of Seychelles (DBS), who spoke on loan schemes, Martin Callow, from the Seychelles Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust (SeyCCAT), who provided information funds to projects related to marine activities jointly with DBS, Angelique Antat, from the Ministry of Industry, Entrepreneurship Development & Business Innovation, who spoke on business policies and Craig Francourt, from CTF consultancy, who imparted knowledge on developing a business.

Malshini Senaratne, director of ECO-SOL Consulting, whose company is trying to venture into the blue economy, said that there is too much bureaucracy to open a business such as visits to several offices associated with business where often one is faced with too many conflicting information and once getting started, the problem of late payments prevents them from making steps forward.

Creative entrepreneur, Daryl Canaya, said that even though one has a good business idea, to get a loan is the main problem. He said that there should be policies to cater for young entrepreneurs to get the required funding for their business, especially for the blue economy, which business in this sector will be new to many young entrepreneurs.

In her opening remarks, HC Röshler noted that there are plenty of young people in Seychelles with business ideas and ambitions but many business loans are defaulted due to failed businesses, which makes other loans expensive for those who come next.

“It is really important that we learn the lessons of those failed businesses and understand what makes a successful business plan,” she said.

Ms Röshler thanked the young participants for coming to the event, which also marked the closing day of CHOGM in the UK .

She aspired that they at least go away with a useful contact or an idea that would help them on their way.

CHOGM is the biennial summit meeting of the heads of government from all Commonwealth nations and the CHOGM 2018 has been taking place in UK since Monday this week under the theme ‘Towards a Common Future’.

President Danny Faure is leading a delegation at the meeting, where he also addressed the Commonwealth Youth Forum and the Commonwealth Business forum.

The first Big Lunch, held under the theme ‘A more secure future’, was held last month at the Seychelles Coastguard base at Ile Perseverance.

A second lunch, under the theme ‘A Fairer Future’ was recently held for the judiciary and members of the National Assembly at the Courts of Justice and the third luncheon with the theme ‘A more Sustainable Future’ was held at the Vallée De Mai on Praslin.