Why Blockchain is important for Mauritius

Mauritius is often identified as the island with beautiful beaches in the middle of the Indian Ocean. It is also considered as a developing country and of the best places to do business in the African continent.

Limited resources

Mauritius is characterized as a country with very limited natural resources. The main economic pillars of Mauritius remain the tourism, sugar, financial and ICT/BPO industries. The textile and sugar industries have been dwindling for the past few years with increased competition from countries with cheaper labour and more abundant natural resources.

In this rapidly-changing economic landscape, it has become very important for Mauritius to adopt a more innovative and technology-driven approach. Three of the main problems prevalent in Mauritius are:

1. Transparency in the public sector
2. Resources management
3. Business facilitation

Transparency in the public sector

Since Mauritius does not have abundant natural resources, it becomes even more important to properly manage these assets. Mauritius however does possess quite considerable untapped oceanic resources. As such, using a blockchain-based tokenization system, these natural resources can be more transparently managed and allocated for specific business uses. Resources management are one of the easiest implementations of blockchain-based solutions and can be easily integrated into existing processes in order to increase productivity, transparency and reduce cost of operations.

Resources Management

As with most other countries, the public sector in Mauritius holds a very important role in the day-to-day running of the economy. A lack of transparency is very detrimental for the proper running of the country. Blockchain can be used at various levels in the public sector to enhance transparency. For instance, using smart contracts and tokenization to manage land registry systems, business incorporation, permits and licenses generation can be very beneficial to the local and foreign businesses. In some cases, it can also spur new business models based on the publicly available data that these blockchain-based systems would create.

Business Facilitation

Mauritius is currently doing a lot in terms of business facilitation, with the Economic Development Board (EDB) and the Mauritius Africa FinTech Hub (MAFH) doing a remarkable work. However, in order to move to the next level, the use of blockchain-based solutions becomes a viable option and a clear opportunity. Many businesses are considering Security Tokens Offerings (STOs) as a feasible option to raise capital and to manage their investments. Having a proper regulatory environment is important but not enough. Mauritius should start to plan to set up frameworks implemented in smart contracts for automation of processes associated with business facilitation and give prospective foreign businesses a clear implementation plan on how to proceed with their business models.