New SIB board chairperson seeks government support for new investment ideas |29 April 2017

A week after being appointed chairperson of the Seychelles Investment Board (SIB) and holding a first meeting with its management, Gilbert Lebon yesterday shared his ideas with Vice-President Vincent Meriton and sought his and government’s support to drive changes to improve the investment climate in the country.

During the talks at State House yesterday morning, Mr Lebon was accompanied by Dr Steve Fanny, the principal secretary in the department of Investment & Industries; Angelique Antat, the chief executive and secretary to the SIB and Kenny Roberts, a member of the SIB board.

Speaking to the press soon after, Mr Lebon said following a first meeting he has already had with the chief executive and management of the SIB, it was an opportunity to share these same ideas and vision with Vice-President Meriton on how to move forward and make certain changes at the SIB in order to boost and foster investment and to seek his support in this endeavour.

“We discussed the overall vision and new direction for the SIB,” said Mr Lebon, who is also the managing director of VCS.

He said he is happy President Faure has appointed a person from the private sector to head the SIB board.

“It is the private sector which drives investment and we in the private sector know and understand all the challenges, difficulties and constraints which discourage and prevent investments in our economy but given the opportunity to make our contribution through the SIB, I believe we will be in a better position to help do away with investment barriers and thus make the investment environment more attractive for people to invest,” Mr Lebon pointed out.

He noted that there is a need to encourage more Seychellois with capital to invest in their country.

“For a long time more attention has been given to foreign investments but there are Seychellois with money sitting in the bank and we need to find out why they are not investing and try to help by  removing the different barriers to investment,” Mr Lebon pointed out.

He added that by investing in their country they would help create jobs for fellow Seychellois, government will collect more taxes and all this will subsequently help the economy to develop and thrive.

Mr Lebon said a more concerted effort from all stakeholders from different sectors is necessary in order to make Seychelles more investment friendly. But he added that the SIB will start by meeting investors and potential investors to know the challenges, problems and difficulties they are facing and see what help can be provided.

“The vision of the SIB has always been to make Seychelles a centre for investment in the region but in order to reach that goal we need to be able to know where we are today and where we want to go in the future. We need to be competitive and to be so we need to relook at all our fundamentals,” Mr Lebon pointed out.

Mr Lebon said the discussions with VP Meriton are very encouraging and he has promised his full support to the SIB’s effort to improve the investment climate in the country.

He noted that the next step will be meeting investors following which the SIB will come up with a plan which it will submit to government.

Mr Lebon remarked that a lot of things that require changing in the drive to transform the investment climate in Seychelles do not depend on the SIB alone but on different ministries and other stakeholders and they all need to work with the SIB to help it achieve its vision and for this government support is paramount.