COMFWB Seychelles office desk officially inaugurated |31 August 2021

The ribbon cutting ceremony marking the official opening of the new office (Photo: Joena Meme)

An office desk for the Seychelles Chapter of the Comesa Federation of Women in Business (COMFWB Seychelles) was officially inaugurated yesterday ahead of its launch today (see lead story).

The office is located at the Seychelles Investment Bureau (SIB) headquarters in the Annex of the Independence House.

The small ceremony was attended by the Minister for Investment, Entrepreneurship and Industry, Devika Vidot; the secretary general of Comesa, Chileshe Kapwepwe; the chairperson of COMFWB, Maureen Sumbwe; members of the COMFWB delegation; the chief executive (CEO) of the Citizens Engagement Platform Seychelles (Ceps), Alvin Laurence; and the deputy CEO of SIB, Lenny Gabriel.

Minister Vidot welcomed that initiative from Comesa and confirmed the government’s engagement in supporting the activities.

“We chose this place for COMFWB Seychelles to have its office as we want the SIB headquarters to become a one-stop shop for all entrepreneurs. In this building, the entrepreneur can register their business and get a licence and also become aware of all facilities that are available. SIB opens the door to many investments. It is only the beginning in our step to improving facilitation services in the country as we are working very hard to ease the procedures of doing business in Seychelles. COMFWB and SIB is a very good opportunity to marry the public and private partnership and it will be a good support for our entrepreneurs,” Minister Vidot said.

Minister Vidot hopes that the new desk will help in supporting and empowering women throughout the country and make the visions of the women a reality.

The chairperson of COMFWB, Maureen Sumbwe, shared that since their delegation is in the country, they have been going around to see how they can help.

“COMFWB is a voluntary organisation. It promotes programmes that integrate women into trade and development activities in Eastern and Southern Africa: in particular, in the fields of industry, trade and services, agriculture, fishing, energy, transport and communications, natural resources and mining, with the main objective of improving the economic conditions of women in the sub-region as well as increasing the awareness of women in development and business issues at the policy level,” noted Ms Sumbwe.

Ms Sumbwe also expressed her gratitude to the government of Seychelles who is supporting their organisation as in many countries the volunteers are working from their homes.

Ms Kapwepwe also commended the government of Seychelles for showing its support.

“It is a joy to witness the support not only in words but also in action by the Seychelles government for the women in business. Our secretariat is very much aligned with what the government of Seychelles is doing. Comesa comprises 21 African member states that came together with the aim of promoting regional integration through trade and the development of natural and human resources for the mutual benefit of all people in the region. Our aim is to bring the countries together and harmonise the trade facilitation tools within the continent. Even with the pandemic, countries have to move on and we cannot keep sitting and waiting. I am glad women in Seychelles will be able to have access to more facilities through COMFWB,” Ms Kapwepwe said.

Claudette Albert, the chairperson of the Seychelles Chapter of COMFWB, expressed her satisfaction with the opening of the office desk. “This represents the support the government is offering to us by giving us an office so that we can give business advisory, support and training for the women. If women need any help in finding business partners or markets in the African region, our office will act as the liaison for them. Now we are going to organise ourselves so that we can provide training to the women. The government, through Minister Devika Vidot, is already giving us the moral support to run our programme. COMFWB is supporting Seychelles with a part-time liaison officer and the chairperson operates on a voluntary basis.

Mr Gabriel added that the opening of the COMFWB comes at an opportune time when Seychelles is trying to reposition itself on the international market.

To note, Comesa’s current strategy can thus be summed up in the phrase ‘economic prosperity through regional integration’. With its 21 member states,  population of over 583 million, a Gross Domestic Product of $805 billion, a global export/import trade in goods worth US $324 billion, Comesa forms a major market place for both internal and external trading.

Geographically, Comesa covers almost two thirds of the African continent with an area of 12 million (sq km).

Vidya Gappy