Seychelles launches National Digital Identity platform – SeyID |02 November 2022

Guests in a souvenir photograph after the launch

• Allows Seychellois citizens to prove their identity online

Seychellois citizens and residents can now have the option of having a National Digital Identity following the launch of the National Digital Identity platform, SeyID, during a short ceremony at Eden Bleu hotel on Monday morning.

It was Vice-President Ahmed Afif who officially launched the platform in the presence of the Head of State, Wavel Ramkalawan, other high government officials and representatives of the Swiss-based company, WISekey, which was instrumental in developing the SeyID platform.

When addressing the guests, Vice-President Afif said the launch of the platform is another initiative undertaken by the Department of Information Communications Technology (DICT) to boost the country’s digital transformation.

He said that while physical National Identity Card have been the norms to date, for the basis of identity verification in Seychelles, it is limiting when it comes to the online environment, “especially when it comes to providing innovative digital products and services that are fully online and require a high level of automation”.

“Many countries across the globe have introduced Digital Identity platforms in order to address such needs and are reaping the benefits from opportunities that they make possible which did not exist before. Seychelles is also now ready to offer its citizens with such a service,” said Mr Afif.

He added that while many countries, in their digital identity journey, had first deployed their National Digital Identity through smart cards, and then proceeded to offer their digital identity through mobile devices, Seychelles has skipped the smart card phase.

“The trend observed in many case studies is that following this, there is a rapid shift in usage from the smart ID cards to the mobile-based ID. Given this and coupled with the high level of mobile phone penetration in the case of Seychelles, we have decided to leapfrog this smart card phase altogether and to deliver a digital ID platform which is both web-based and mobile-based from the outset. SeyID provides for a mobile Digital Identity from day one,” added Mr Afif.

For his part, the Minister for Finance, National Planning and Trade, Naadir Hassan, who also chairs the High-Level Committee for Digital Economy Agenda, described Monday’s launch as a historic event for Seychelles.

He said it was a secure and convenient way to access government and private sector services and its implementation is part of the Digital Economy Agenda of the government and a component in the CBS Payment Modernization Strategy.

“The SeyID platform will not only allow Seychelles citizens to prove their identity online but it will also facilitate the accessing of numerous public and private services that choose to integrate with the SeyID platform through the Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that will be made available to allow for the interfacing between systems,” said Minister Hassan.

He has therefore called on service providers from both the public and private sectors to make use of the SeyID platform and to integrate their systems with it.

Minister Hassan has reassured them that the system is safe and secure and strict measures have been taken to prevent cybercrimes by working with WISeKey International Holding, which is a leading cybersecurity company.

“The SeyID platform is based on WISeKey’s WISeID platform which guarantees a high level of Digital Identity and online security. SeyID will be accessible through both web-based and mobile-based applications and both are supported with strong authentication techniques. This is to ensure the security of the SeyID platform users,” added Mr Hassan.

Monday’s launch was followed by a software developers’ workshop, led by Wisekey, which guided ICT specialists on how to access and use the SeyID platform.

The company’s chairman and founder, Carlos Moreira, also made a presentation entitled 'New Horizons' where he shared an overview of the new digital SEY-ID Multi-purpose Identity Platform.

Patsy Canaya

Photo credits: State House