Republic of Mauritius- Promoting talents and skills in the cooperative sector

The objective of the competitions was to create awareness on the importance of cooperative sector and at the same time, encourage people to develop their skills and talents in view of opening new business ventures for them.

In his address, Minister Bholah underlined the increasing importance of the cooperative sector in consolidating the Mauritian economy adding that a series of key measures have been taken to revive the sector. He pointed out that the contribution of cooperatives to poverty reduction, employment generation and social integration has to be duly acknowledged especially among women and the youth.

The competitions, he said, have been designed as a means to further encourage the participation of youth and women in fields such as essay writing, bag making, glass painting and home designing amongst others, so that they can later develop their own business ideas and start their enterprises.

The Minister added that the huge number of participants who registered for various competitions demonstrates the keen interest that people have for the cooperative sector.  This initiative, he stated, will improve the visibility of talented people on the local market and will boost the enhancement of cooperatives.

Also present, the Director of the NCC, Mr G. Seechurn, highlighted that the NCC has been instrumental in promoting the cooperative movement among the people especially the youth adding that some 100 000 members are associated to the organisation. The NCC, he said, is working towards becoming a centre of excellence in capacity building and quality research as well as training facilities for cooperative entrepreneurship.

The winners of the competitions Essay writing for students of grade 10 and 12 are Aubdool Tariq Hassan of Doha Secondary School and Biefun Ruchita of Droopnath Ramphul State College respectively.

In the category of Glass Painting, Bag Making, Creative Home Design, the winners are Ramlowat Aisha, Busgeeth Neelam and Rughoo Devi Esnac.

As for Project writing for students of grade 12, the students of the Professor Basdeo Bissoondoyal College Girls bagged the winning title.