Seychelles Credit Union elects new board members |04 December 2023

The newly elected SCU board: (l to r) Michel Pierre, Jessica Larue, Christopher Laurence (chairperson), Michelle Lafortune and Pedro Pierre

Christopher Laurence is the new chairperson of the board of the Seychelles Credit Union after he was elected with 109 votes through a secret ballot last Saturday during the union’s Extraordinary General Meeting at the STC conference room.

Jessica Larue, who received 106 votes, is the vice-chairperson, while the ordinary members are Michelle Lafortune, Michel Pierre and Pedro Pierre with 87, 86 and 84 votes respectively.

Following this, the Supervisory Committee was elected through a show of hands, with Dora Ernesta, Geetha Chethy and Vanessa Ernesta securing their positions.

Over 150 people participated in the election last Saturday afternoon to select individuals who will represent their interests and work towards the common goal of financial well-being for all.

Sixteen candidates stood for the election, and one was not approved by the assembly due to being absent. The others had five minutes to present themselves, followed by questions from the assembly. The outgoing chairperson, Bryan Julie, chaired the election.

Christopher Laurence, the newly elected chair of the SCU board, expressed gratitude to all who voted for the new board.

“We saw keen interest among the members and now the new board has to see what has been working and what not in order to push SCU forward. We are aware that the ATM card is something hot for all members and this is something the board will look into. The cards are working well for payments but we need to see how fast the members can have access to it,” noted Mr Laurence.

The new chair also acknowledged the importance of addressing concerns related to SCU's services, particularly the amount of time clients have to wait.

“I went through the same and I do not necessarily know what the issue is. One of the elements to boost up service is digital banking and this will help in reducing the time in serving people.”

Mr Laurence, who previously collaborated with SCU to launch Digital Banking, emphasised the collaborative effort of the new board and the Supervisory Committee in taking SCU to a higher level.

The Seychelles Credit Union's mission is to promote thrift among its members, enabling it to provide quality and fairly priced financial services to the community by prioritising people over profits. Its vision is to become a household name in the community, and its principal strategic objectives include the creation of a pool of funds for member loans, mobilisation of savings, promotion of thrift, provision of affordable financial services, encouragement of good governance and transparency, and the empowerment of members towards self-reliance.

Saturday’s election was observed by local observer group, Association for Rights, Information and Democracy (ARID) and the new board and the supervisory committee has a month to hold their first meeting.

Vidya Gappy

Photos: Louis Toussaint