Minister Devika Vidot visits SIB and Esa |10 November 2020
Minister Vidot interacting with staff during her visits yesterday (Photos: Thomas Meriton)
Investment, Entrepreneurship and Industry Minister Devika Vidot yesterday visited the Seychelles Investment Bureau and the Enterprise Seychelles Agency as part of her familiarisation visits.
At the Seychelles Investment Bureau (SIB), Minister Vidot was accompanied by the principal secretary for investment Michael Nalletamby. After visiting the staff, Minister Vidot had a meeting with the chief executive Cindy Vidot, deputy chief executive Lenny Gabriel and some senior staff to have an insight of the work currently being done by this government entity and SIB’s future plans.
The chairman of the board of directors of SIB, Gilbert Lebon, was also present during the familiarisation visit and meeting at SIB.
From SIB, the minister moved to the Enterprise Seychelles Agency (Esa) based at Camion Hall in Victoria. She was accompanied by principal secretary for entrepreneurship Angelique Antat and the chief executive of Esa, Angelique Appoo.
After visiting the different offices at Esa’s headquarters at Camion Hall, Minister Vidot talked to the press.
“These visits form part of a series of visits that all ministers are doing to familiarise ourselves with our ministries. Last week, I visited the Industrial Estate Authority and tomorrow (today) I will be visiting more departments. It is also time for me to familiarise myself with the way the departments are operating. So far, I was already familiar with the work all the agencies were doing and now I am able to get more information about the agencies and know more about the challenges the staff are facing. Many of them spoke about a lack of finance due to a budget cut brought on by Covid-19. Some agencies also noted that they lack human resources,” said Minister Vidot.
Speaking about the grant scheme, Minister Vidot noted that there has been a massive surge in the number of applications submitted recently. “This shows that there is a need for financial assistance in regards to the business sector. What we will have to do now is to analyse these applications and see how the businesses will use these grants,” she added.
In all three visits she made, staff raised their concerns about the possibility of losing their jobs, but Minister Vidot reassured them that this is not going to happen.
“Some of the staff are lost in the process, but I reassured them that they do not need to worry. The ministry is here to work together with them and instead of worrying let us look forward to working together as a team. Rather than focusing on their small agency, the objective of the ministry is to bring all of you together and work as one organisation with the same vision, same goal and same objective,” concluded Minister Vidot.
Vidya Gappy
