The Public Enterprise Monitoring Commission (PEMC)

In 2009, the Public Enterprise Monitoring Division (PEMD) was set up within the Ministry of Finance with the critical role of making recommendations regarding the re-structuring, re-organising, and monitoring of all public entities so as to improve efficiency in the provision of essential services and ensure Government receives maximum returns on its investments.

A decision was taken in 2012 for the Division to transform into an independent body. Hence, under the Public Enterprise Monitoring Commission Act 2013, a Commission was formed. As a Commission, it continues and further strengthen the work of the then existed Division, but within a more autonomous structure.

PEMC launches its website

22-August-2014
The Public Enterprise Monitoring Commission (PEMC) has officially launched its website which can be accessed at www.pemc.sc
The objectives of the website are to:

• promote monitoring of transparency in the financial performance of public enterprises to prevent build up of risks;

• create a web-based public information sharing system to report on the financial performance of public enterprises;

• provide easy access to information relating to public enterprises; and

• promote awareness of the roles and strategic mandate of public enterprises to all stakeholders.

The website was officially launched at Liberty House yesterday by the Minister for Finance, Trade and Investment, Pierre Laporte, in the presence of PEMC board members, staff and the principal secretaries for Finance and for Economic Policy, Trade and Investment.

Minister Laporte described the website as an important tool for the PEMC to communicate to the people all key information about the various public enterprises and to bring more transparency in the operations of public enterprises.

http://www.nation.sc/article.html?id=242745

Where to go, what to know when planning a business

05-September-2015
Recently the Seychelles Investment Board (SIB) in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, Trade and the Blue Economy and the Ministry of Investment, Entrepreneurship Development and Business Innovation organised a second Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) forum on Mahé. The aim was to equip emerging entrepreneurs with the necessary information regarding loans or credit when planning a business and of the different stakeholders involved in making a business happen.

Relevant stakeholders were there with presentations shedding light on what they offer and how clients should go about acquiring credit or loans from their institutions. The first such forum was organised on Praslin and La Digue in May 2015.

These meetings are part of other discussions that came about after various visits to small businesses in districts by both President James Michel and the Minister for Investment, Entrepreneurship Development and Business Innovation, Michael Benstrong, where they noted very healthy business environment but the entrepreneurs are facing difficulties getting access to loans, credit and locations.

To that effect, Minister Benstrong also said during the forum, that his ministry is working on clearer policies for people who are starting up a business and on the best place they should go to get assistance. There will also be training programmes, he added, to improve their capacity.

Seychelles NATION brings you a summary of what were presented at the forum by different stakeholders who provide loan, credit and other facilities for businesses.

The Seychelles Investment Board (SIB)

Set up in 2004, SIB acts as a one-stop window for investment. Its main objectives are to formulate investment promotion policies, plans and marketing strategies and undertake promotional activities to attract foreign and local investments;

advise government on strategies for investment policies and country image-building; stimulate the development, expansion and growth of the economy by promoting Seychelles as an international investment, business and service center and promote and facilitate the development of investment and business activities.

The different sectors potential entrepreneurs can invest in are tourism, fisheries, property development, energy, trade and professional services.

The Registration Division

Anybody planning to set up a business should first register his/her business at the Registration Division, which falls under the Department of Legal Affairs. Its primary function is to ensure compliance with satutory requirements under relevant Laws and Acts. It also functions as a Registry of records relating to the lands, businesses, companies, associations, intellectual property, deeds and other documents subject to the formality of registration.

Apart from administering various pieces of legislation, the Registration Division also incorporates companies, registers businesses, registers and protects intellectual property – all related to businesses.

Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) loan scheme

In 2013 the government announced a financing proposal to assist small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with subsidised funds to boost their access to finance. In this new scheme, the government was to partner with commercial banks to provide loans to small and medium entrepreneurs as a means of facilitating the private sector to play a major role in driving economic growth in the country. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed on July 15, 2013 by the government and the commercial banks to ratify the introduction of the scheme in the banking sector.

The key requirements a potential entrepreneur needs for credit applications on the SME loan scheme are a business plan, cash flow projections, financial statements, bank statements and the credit information system (CIS).

The key actions that are required for a successful credit application are that the applicant must register a business name to qualify for a loan facility under the SME scheme. The credit application should be submitted to the banks with the full set of valid documents to ensure that the banks can provide a quick turnaround time on the credit approval.

The Development Bank of Seychelles (DBS)

Founded in 1978, the Development Bank of Seychelles, which operates under a Decree, is a development financial institution with a specific mandate to assist in the economic development of Seychelles. It has over the years financed over 8,040 projects in excess of R2.1 billion and its portfolio continues to increase annually. Its product is limited to loans for business use only.

The bank also provides some financial guidance, advice and mentorship on potential investments and provides continuous support throughout the setting up stage, expansion and realisation of a project. It also provides loans in sectors like agriculture and horticulture, building and construction, tourism, services, fishing, industry, transport and renewable energy.

Small Enterprise Promotion Agency (Senpa)

Senpa is a co-ordinate and focused one-stop agency that provides development, support services and promotion to small entrepreneurs who are engaged in light manufacturing, processing, value added and related services. It promotes and facilitates entrepreneurship and enterprise development in Seychelles through targeted interventions.

It is to be the centre of excellence for entrepreneurship and sustainable SME sector development in Seychelles. Part of the agency’s strategy is to encourage businesses to use locally available natural resources and raw materials within identified sectors.

Businesses under the Senpa umbrella comprise tailoring, upholstery, manufacturing, art and craft, handicraft, food processing, professional services, horticulture, repairs and maintenance service.
Senpa guides you, promotes you, counsels you, trains you, introduces you to customers, opens doors for you. It promotes small businesses through exhibitions, fairs, trainings – local and international, sales outlets and workshops.

The Small Business Financing Agency (SBFA)

SBFA was set up to replace the Concessionary Credit Agency (CCA) with the objective of providing financial support to small entrepreneurs in Seychelles. It has a legal framework and is governed by the ‘Small Business Financing act, 2013’ which came into force in March 2014. It has as mission to provide financial support for the activities undertaken by small enterprises.

Its objective is to help small businesses by providing financial assistance through concessionary loans to encourage the growth of micro enterprises and contribute to the overall strengthening of the economy.

SBFA finances projects for start-up as well as for expansionary activities in manufacturing and industrial related activities, small maintenance and cleaning contractors, handicraft, tailoring, artist and musicians, graphics, fishing, tourism, training, services, childminding, horticulture, bakery, backyard farming, hairdresser, manufacturing and any other activity that falls under the cottage industry.

Seychelles Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy Programme (Seerep))

Seerep is a financing facility initiated by government, which was signed by the Ministry of Finance, Trade and Investment in partnership with the commercial banks and the Credit Union. The facility is being made accessible to the public through an affordable loan scheme by all the major commercial banks in Seychelles.

The main objective is to encourage the adoption of energy-efficient home appliances, e.g refrigerators, washing machine, cookers, lighting consumables, solar panels and other items of renewable technology by the domestic residential sector.

PV rebate scheme

Government, through the Ministry of Finance, Trade and the Blue Economy, in partnership with the UNDP-GEF, provides the funds for the Rebate Scheme. The Seychelles Energy Commission is responsible for its implementation and assists consumers by providing guidance/advice on PV systems and installation as well as energy efficiency practices. The Development Bank of Seychelles is responsible for holding and disbursing the funds to the installers upon receipt of Commissioning Certificates and Licenses following satisfactory completion of installation inspections.

The objective of the scheme is to promote the use of renewable energy, by reducing the one-off installation cost of a PV system connected to the national electricity grid. The rebate is given in the form of a cash incentive upon the purchase and installation of each PV system under the scheme. Applicant can benefit up to 25% of the rebate towards the purchase and cost of installation. This applies to both household and the business sector.

http://www.nation.sc/article.html?id=246674

2016 Doing Business report

07-November-2015
Seychelles’ ranking improves

Seychelles has been ranked 95th out of 189 countries in the World Bank’s 2016 Doing Business report.
As was the case in 2015, the latest report features a change in the way the scores are calculated leading the World Bank to recalculate all of last year’s rankings.
The adjustments have placed Seychelles further down in 104th position in 2015 instead of the 85th position awarded in the 2014 Doing Business report.
Based on the recalculations and methodology changes, Seychelles’ 95th position in the 2016 report therefore means Seychelles has climbed 9 places overall compared to last year.
Regionally, Seychelles has climbed one place to the 5th position in the Sub Saharan Africa region compared to last year’s 6th position.
The Indian Ocean neighbouring island of Mauritius, which is ranked 32nd globally has maintained its first position in the region while Rwanda (62), Botswana (72) and South Africa (73) are ranked second, third and fourth respectively.
The annual report, published for the 13th time this year, measures the ease of doing business, based on the regulations and corresponding red tape surrounding starting a business and trading in each of the 189 economies it assesses. It ranks the world economies based on 10 sets of indicators.
Commenting on the methodology changes in its recent publications, the World Bank states that the 2016 report completes “a two-year effort to expand benchmarks that measure the quality of regulation, as well as efficiency of the business regulatory framework”.
This it adds, is aimed at providing a better reflection of reality of business operations in each country that is assessed.
‘Dealing with Construction Permits’, ‘Getting Electricity’, ‘Enforcing Contracts’, ‘Registering Property’ and ‘Trading Across Borders’ are the five indicators that witnessed changes in the latest report.
Since last year the World Bank has been implementing a “Distance to Frontier (DTF)” calculation method. This measures a country’s progress against the best performance achieved by any economy.
According to the Doing Business Report 2016, Seychelles has scored 61.05 percent this year compared to 58.31 percent last year.
‘Getting credit’ is the area in which Seychelles has witnessed the most progress, achieving a ranking of 109 compared to 171 last year, recording 30 percent increase in its DTF rating (from 10 percent in 2015 to 40 percent this year).
The report states that “Seychelles improved access to credit information by establishing a credit registry”.
‘Dealing with Construction permits’, ‘Paying Taxes’ and ‘Trading Across Borders’ are three indicators in which the country maintained the same ranking as last year.
For the six other indicators Seychelles saw some decline in its ranking – ‘Staring a Business’ (131st from 123rd in 2015), ‘Getting Electricity’ (139th from 123 in 2015), ‘Registering Property’ (67th from 66th in 2015), ‘Protecting Minority Investors’ (105th from 104th in 2015), ‘Enforcing Contracts’ (138th from 137th in 2015) and ‘Resolving Insolvency’ (63rd from 62nd in 2015).
Nevertheless, the country saw a slight improvement in its DTF measure for at least two of these indicators in spite of a drop in ranking; ‘Staring a Business’ (78.55% from 78.42% in 2015) and ‘Resolving Insolvency’ (54.41% from 54.17% in 2015).
Commenting on the Seychelles performance the Seychelles Minister for Finance, Trade and the Blue Economy Jean-Paul Adam has said that while the methodology changes applied in compiling the report makes it a bit difficult to compare the country's performance based on the various indicators, the priority remains on improving the business experience in the country.
Mr Adam noted that a lot of efforts have been made since last year to improve the availability of data provided to the World Bank while adding that the Bretton Woods institution does make use of available data from other sources.
“This is reflected in the improvement in our ranking if you apply this year’s methodology, but there are still some challenges in terms of how you measure certain areas in the context of a small economy…,” said Minister Adam in a press interview.
“..The first indicator we look at is the businesses themselves, how they see the business environment… there are still constraints in terms of procedures and bureaucracy….We have already implemented some reforms in terms of how the licensing authority operates, a second phase of reform is coming which will include changes in some laws. We also have the new companies act which will come in next year…We are confident that when we have these elements in place we will improve the business experience in Seychelles.”
The finance minister noted that although businesses have been able to access funding especially small businesses through various schemes implemented by the government, access to credit is still one of the main concerns in the island nation especially in terms of loans being made available to businesses by the commercial banks.
According to Minister Adam the ministry is engaging with banks to shift the situation with the help of the Central Bank as well as with the International Monetary Fund and World Bank’s support.
“At times to improve you also have to look at the best practices worldwide and this is where the report comes in to help us see what works best in other countries."
The chairman of the Seychelles Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), Marco Francis, is also of the view that while a lot has been done to improve the ease of doing business in the country in recent years, there's still a lot of challenges to be addressed in some areas.
Commenting on the aspect of Getting Credit, apart from the improved access to credit information cited by the report Mr Francis noted "some improvements with regards to access to finance for small businesses, which can access loans from locally from various schemes as well as from international financial institutions”.
On the downside he agreed that starting up a new business still remains a problem especially due to the bureaucracy that people setting up a new venture have to go through at times.
“One other weakness we need to work hard to address concerns lease document and registering a lease. A lot of our members obtain a piece of land from the government for example to carry out their business but they complain about the process of registering their lease which can take up to one year…this is one area we need to focus on in 2016,” said Francis.
“Nevertheless, I believe we are on the right path. Today the SCCI is in dialogue with the government but we still need to continue improving the ease of doing business in the country. It’s a challenge for the private sector and it’s a challenge for the government.”
Globally, Singapore has once again been ranked in first position in the World Bank’s 2016 Doing Business report, as the country with the most favourable business environment in the world, for the third year in a row.
The other world economies placed in the top ten of countries with the most business friendly regulatory environment are New Zealand (2), Denmark (3), Republic of Korea (4), Hong Kong, China (5), United Kingdom (6), United States (7), Sweden (, Norway (9) and Finland (10).

http://www.nation.sc/article.html?id=247405