INTRODUCING THE SEMINAR AND ITS OBJECTIVE.
The seminar "Entreprendre Ensemble Océan Indien" was held at Cotton Bay Hotel, Rodrigues Island and gathered women entrepreneurs from the following islands of the Indian Ocean: Comores,Madagascar, Seychelles, Mauritius, Réunion, Mayotte and Rodrigues. Its chief objective was to set up a network of women entrepreneurs in the Indian Ocean region.
Two days, the 19th and 20th of April2007, were mostly occupied by the structuring of the network and of the group work around it, accomplished through workshops.
ITINERARY OF THE SEMINAR
19th of April
1- Opening ceremony.
Were present:
Mrs Thérèse Clair, Commissaire de la Femme, Rodrigues.
Mrs Monique Andréas Esoavelomandroso, Secretaries générale de la Commission de l'Océan Indien
Mrs Fatoumia Bazi, Chargée de mission à la Commission de l'Océan Indien
Mrs Lindsay Castel, Représentante du bureau du Chef Commissaire, Rodrigues
Mrs Aline Wong, membre FCEM (Femmes Chefs d'Entreprises Mondiales) Commissaire en charge des programmes pour l'Afrique
Mrs Elvita Limock, Présidente de l'Association Rodrigues Entreprendre au Féminin
Mrs Françoise Baptiste, Coordinatrice de l'AREF,
Mrs Pamela Bapoo Dundoo, PNUD
Mr Harry Hookum, representing the Registrar of Associations
Mr Manoj Vaghjee, Consultant and speaker
Miss Dareena Seernauth, rapporteure
The official opening of the seminar started with a few different speeches.
There were about a hundred people and they listened to:
Mrs Françoise Baptiste, AREF Coordinator (Annexe 1)
Mrs Elvita Limock, AREF President
Mrs Thérèse Clair, Commissaire de la Femme (Annexe2)
Mrs Monique Andréas Esoavelomandroso, Secréaire Générale de la COI, (Annexe3)
Mrs Lindsay Castel representing Rodrigues'Chief Commissioner
Mrs Françoise Baptiste defined the purposes of the seminar (Annexe 4)
2- Developing and putting into place a strategy designed to strengthen the exchanges at the regional level.
Mr Manoj Vaghjee, consultant and speaker, outlined the organisation of the workshops. Since every island had a specific history and different people and cultures, it was clear that the many differences had to be considered as assets .
Thus, in order to dynamise exchanges, a strategic organisation had to be structured during the sessions of the coming two days so that a performing and durable network was put into place. Many points would have to be accounted for:
- A well-defined mission
- Common values
- A clear vision
- A strategic plan covering the next 2-3 years
- A work plan.
After the results expected from the seminar and workshops had been outlined, each delegation introduced itself reflecting on its opportunities and its difficulties. This presentation proved to be very useful since each of the Indian Ocean islands has its own characteristics.
Knowing one another creates better understanding, an indispensable factor in the proper functioning of the network.
INTRODUCING THE COUNTRIES
COMORES
The Comorian delegation explains the difficilties encountered by the process of evolution in the Comorian Islands where, nevertheless, 85% of the women struggle to better the living conditions of their families.
Schooling and Health are not free.
These difficulties hit women the most and so, they get together to find a way out. There is already an association battling for education for girls and, as a result, 87% of girls attend school.
The problems met by women entrepreneurs are evoked: the market is crowded with imports, competition and formation are lacking as well as raw material and power ; there are transport problems, visa problems and credit shortage for those trying to trade with other countries.
MADAGASCAR
The Malagasy delegation describes its "very great ambitions" in spite of the fact that the women function in small clusters. They realise that their enterprises should be named more realistically TPE, (très petites entreprises) and not PME (petites et moyennes entreprises). They are penalised being TPE in a larger structure.
- The Malagasy woman faces diverse problems in her country's economy:
- Cultural handicap created by tradition which stucks the man in his position.
- Lack of support between women.
le Mrs Elvita Limock.