President updated on L’Union Estate’s transformation plan |06 December 2021

President Ramkalawan during his meeting at L’Union Estate on Friday

Turning L’Union Estate on La Digue into a self-sustaining and profitable business venture, offering tourism products to visitors that can increase revenue, seizing potential business opportunities and exploring farming options to enhance food security, are some of the pressing deliverables raised at a meeting headed by President Wavel Ramkalawan with the board and management of L’Union Estate on Friday.

President Ramkalawan was accompanied by the Minister for Investment, Entrepreneurship and Industry, Devika Vidot, under whose purview the state- owned enterprise falls.

Since August this year the ministry and the executive have been consulting with board members of L’Union on a potential transformation plan for the entity, to enable it to become profitable, thus generating employment for Diguois and helping to boost wealth for the island and for the country.

The creation of a strategic and development plan for the Estate is one of the first steps to making this a reality.

Proposals for the development of the estate will feature cultural heritage sites, an artisanal village, agricultural diversification including livestock, vegetables, vanilla and turmeric, guided tours, entertainment and other activities that will transform the estate into a must visit site for both locals and visitors.

During the meeting on Friday, President Ramkalawan and Minister Vidot thanked everyone for their hard work and reaffirmed government’s support for the project.

They also invited everyone to embrace the transformation of L’Union with a positive attitude while remaining disciplined and committed to their duties, since benefits reaped from the project will filter directly to them, the Diguois and Seychelles as a whole.

Addressing the staff, the President said: “I would like to express our sincere appreciation to you all for your hard work over the years. As we prepare to transform L'Union Estate, I call on each one of you to play an active role and collectively join management in making L’Union a profitable business which will not only yield greater benefits for L’Union Estate but for you all as the staff and your families, but most importantly for the country.”

Essentially L’Union Estate will undergo a shift from being an entity that collects revenue purely through entrance fee charges to one that is offering a number of services as an attraction centre for locals and tourists alike. The project has been well received by the board and management of L’Union.

In line with its vision ‘generation of wealth and creation of employment responsibly, in a conducive business environment’ the ministry sees this endeavour as a great opportunity to diversify local economic investment by providing alternative opportunities to investors that have traditionally focused on accommodation on La Digue.  It also enables creation of employment opportunities in the Tourism Value Chain. It is expected that partners on L’Union Estate’s transformation project should work together to ensure that the expected benefits are felt primarily by the Diguois themselves, other locals and by tourists visiting the island.

Press release from the Office of the President