Estate Living Magazine Alfresco Living - Issue 36 December 2018 | Page 62

Mauritius
a compelling platform to do business with Africa
As Mauritius joins the league of the 20 top business-friendly places in the
world, it is indeed a good time to highlight the main reasons why this tiny
African island in the middle of the Indian Ocean should be on the priority
list of investors looking to do business with mainland Africa.
Of late, Mauritius has emerged as a secure,
competitive and efficient platform for
channelling investments into Africa’s most
promising industries. After decades of being
the number one investor into India, Mauritius
is turning its attention resolutely to the ‘rising
continent’, with outward investments from
Mauritius to Africa surging to nearly US$32
billion in 2017 – twice as much as in 2012.
Investor confidence in Mauritius as a platform
for doing business with Africa is underpinned by
several factors. First, its business environment
is served by a bilingual (English and French)
and highly educated workforce with a large
supply of nationals and expatriates trained
in business-related fields. Second,
a convenient time zone, modern
infrastructure
and
developed
connectivity make it easy to stay
in touch with Africa and the rest
of the world. And of course, third,
the island’s integration within
the continent’s economic space,
via its membership of trade blocs
such as SADC and COMESA, is
reinforced by an extensive network
of tax treaties and investment
protection agreements with its African
neighbours.
60 |
estate-living.co.za
For over 20 years now, Mauritius has developed
a global business sector attuned to the
needs of companies, institutional investors,
entrepreneurs and high-net-worth individuals
looking to avail themselves of business
opportunities in emerging markets. On the
back of its sturdy growth, the Mauritius global
business sector has been a key ingredient
in propelling the island to the status of an
international financial centre (IFC) with all the
attributes of an attractive platform for cross-
border investment and trade, especially with
Africa as a focus.
Currently undergoing a structural reform
to align with new international norms under
the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS)
project initiated by the Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD), Mauritius is keen to remain a forward-
looking, well-regulated and secure location for
conducting international business.
In a post-BEPS environment that has seen
Mauritius revisit its framework for the conduct
of global business, three specific areas emerge
in which Mauritius retains its competitive
edge for cross-border trade and investment,
especially in relation to Africa: