Consistent and sustainable entrepreneurship ventures are a rare phenomenon, especially in the third-world countries. Even though there are limitless opportunities, the resources needed to develop them are scarce and hard to find. A reality that Mauritius Start-up Incubator, situated in the city of Quatre-Bornes, wants to change. Mauritius start-up incubator (MSI) is, in fact, a company dedicated in providing resources to ventures specializing in Afri-tech, IT & software, call centres, outsourcing and remote working. To know more about this incubator, we met the founder and CEO, Nicolas Goldstein.
Maximizing growth that goes beyond Mauritius
“We are interested in foreign projects, especially European market-based and what we do is helping ventures to grow in foreign markets,” says Nicolas Goldstein, the founder of the start-up incubator.
Mauritius Start-up incubator believes in maximizing growth at all costs. For them, local is great but international is really where all the ‘action’ is.
Since its establishment in 2016, MSI (NDLR Mauritius Start-up Incubator) has helped entrepreneurs in different departments such as Human Resources and Finance, experts who, nowadays, cater to ventures’ needs and assist in their developing process.
How does it work?
“The process to embark on the adventure with us is fairly simple. Prospective ventures and entrepreneurs send an email to the company entailing a summary of their project. Then, the company (upon review of the email) schedules a skype call to discuss further about the project. If this discussion yields a positive outcome, the MSI begins the process of venture recruitment”, explains Nicolas.
MSI has a diverse venture policy, not restricted to a certain type of businesses only. Although based in Mauritius, its portfolio of projects extends beyond the Indian Ocean borders. An example, MSI has helped in the development of a venture founded by a Nigerian group of engineers specialized in developing chatbots (artificial conversation entity).
“Entrepreneurs problem is the lack of access to information!”
When asked about what he enjoys the most about the world of incubation development, Nicolas laughs and says that: “meeting a lot of new people, helping them in their career – basically adding value to what they are doing is the best feeling for me.”
Another key benefit is Mauritius on its own: the Mauritian corporate tax rate of 15% is a tax haven that attracts a lot of investors according to him. However, he understands that not everyone has access to resources to develop their opportunities. He stresses on the importance of this issue on which his start-up is working on. In the next five years, the MSI’s goal is to drastically grow and diversify its portfolio. This goal is motivated by the Mauritian government willingness to enhance the economic development of the country through entrepreneurship.
Benefits of Mauritius
“The Mauritian government proactive and welcoming nature to investment and entrepreneurship is a significant contributing factor towards the economic opportunity growth in the country. However, more needs to be done” says Nicholas. In fact, ‘more’ means more emphasis on initiatives like the recent conference “Women in tech” by Accenture or competitions around entrepreneurship.
“It’s a journey not a race…”
“At the end of the day, ventures/entrepreneurs need to understand that the journey is a process. Rome was not built in a day and this is something that entrepreneurs must understand, specifically while searching for finance. It is pivotal to ensure that not only one’s ideas are viable but that the financial projections also make sense and are feasible. As much as investors/venture capitalist and firms want to invest, they also want to see returns – feasible returns and that’s just how the world of investment in the business world, irrespective of objective, works,” explained Nicolas.
