Republic of Mauritius- Observatory to be set up at SME Mauritius for data collection

The key objectives of the SME Observatory include building data collection capabilities and mechanisms for SMEs and entrepreneurship information, including developing a National Entrepreneurship Index; identify markets in emerging industries with growth potential and network for its effective realisation; and assess regulatory and legal frameworks and propose improvements based on good governance principles and international best practices.

It will also target a benchmark performance for SME at the sectoral and macro level and propose improvements based on best practices as well as set up an effective mechanism to monitor, evaluate and report impact of policies and programmes. In addition, the Observatory will feed the Ministry of Business, Enterprise and Cooperatives and the Government with relevant data and statistics for evidence-based policy reviews.

A stratified sampling method will be used and a sample of 400 SMEs registered at SME Mauritius Ltd. This work will be completed by December 2019 and a report will be published from the results obtained. The SME observatory will also conduct an evaluation of the effectiveness of the schemes offered by SME Mauritius Ltd since 2017 and identify proposals to improve the help offered to SMEs. The preliminary task will start in September 2019 where beneficiaries will be given an evaluation survey form and data collected will help for further analysis in January 2020.