Republic of Mauritius- Ensuring the economic empowerment through Cooperative Societies

In his address, Minister Bholah spoke of Government’s firm commitment in promoting the economic empowerment of women, while at the same encouraging the development and growth of women entrepreneurs. To that end, he said, several measures and incentives have been put in place to support cooperatives.

Furthermore, the Minister indicated that, according to Statistics Mauritius, women make up more than 50% of the country’s population compared to the male population. Nevertheless, there are only 75 women cooperative societies, he pointed out. Thus, Mr Bholah encouraged women to fully tap their potential and to avail themselves of the schemes and incentives provided by Government to become entrepreneurs and set up cooperative societies. One of the latest scheme, said the Minister pertains to the grant of financial assistance by the Development Bank of Mauritius by way of no guarantee loans up to a ceiling of Rs 500 000 at a fixed interest rate of 3% to assist women to start a business.

The Mauritius Women Entrepreneur Cooperative Federation Ltd, the Minister pointed out, acts as a facilitator in helping women to improve their skills and aptitudes in entrepreneurship and encouraging women to engage in the cooperative movement in Mauritius.

Moreover, Mr Bholah underscored the importance of technology in the field of entrepreneurship while recalling that technology opens up new opportunities for entrepreneurial networking by eliminating gender-related social constraints that might limit women’s access to information and resources.

The Gender mainstreaming workshop was followed by a talk on cancer and its preventive measures, as well as screening of breast and cervical cancer at the initiative of the NGO,‘Link to Life’.