The Mauritius-Africa Fund, designed to encourage local enterprises to invest in Africa, was launched here Wednesday by the Mauritian Finance Minister, Xavier-Luc Duval, according to a PANA report.
Launching the Fund, Duval said the project represented tremendous investment opportunities for Mauritian investors.
With this Fund, Duval said, Mauritius is now a key player on the African growth agenda following the creation of the Africa strategy and the newly-created Africa Centre for Business Excellence, within the Board of Investment.
“This has helped position the island as a gateway to Africa by identifying business and employment opportunities for Mauritians,” he observed.
He said Africa is an emerging market and is projected to register an annual growth of 6% over the next decade, quoting the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The minister enumerated several spheres where Mauritius can strengthen economic cooperation with the African continent, namely financial, medical, education and the ocean strategy, among others.
“The government will assist Mauritian enterprises seeking to expand their exports into the African markets and the Export Credit Guarantee Insurance where it will provide a 50 per cent subsidy on the cost of Credit Guarantee Insurance for exports to the continent,” he announced.
Duval further announced the holding of six high-level conferences across the continent to showcase Mauritius as a trusted partner in 2014.
The Mauritius-Africa Fund has an initial capital of US$ 17 million. It has a two-fold objective: to participate in the equity financing of businesses investing in viable projects in any African country, capped at 10 per cent of the share capital of the enterprise.
It will also offer fee paying consultancy services on the continent to government and public sector entities in fields where the island has a competitive advantage.
