Island nation offers Rhody inspiration

STANDING TALL: This office building is part of Ebene Cybercity, an office district located about 15 kilometers from the capital city of Port Louis in Mauritius. The island nation in the Indian Ocean shares many similarities with Rhode Island. / COURTESY  BARBARA SCHOENFELD
STANDING TALL: This office building is part of Ebene Cybercity, an office district located about 15 kilometers from the capital city of Port Louis in Mauritius. The island nation in the Indian Ocean shares many similarities with Rhode Island. / COURTESY BARBARA SCHOENFELD

Halfway across the world, in the Indian Ocean, far from the southeast coast of Africa, lies a remarkable inspiration for Rhode Island’s economic development. The tiny island nation of Mauritius is an economic success story. Says a report from the World Bank’s macroeconomics group, “In spite of its small economic size, low endowment of natural resources, and remoteness from world markets, Mauritius has transformed itself from a poor, sugar economy into one of the most successful economies in Africa in recent decades.”

The similarities between Rhode Island and Mauritius are striking. Little Rhody is 1,212 square miles. Mauritius is about 787 square miles, plus some smaller islands under its control. Population sizes are similar: 1.2 million for Mauritius and approximately 1 million in Rhode Island. Mauritius’ beautiful turquoise waters draw visitors worldwide. Rhode Island enjoys distinction as the “Ocean State.”

It takes about one hour to drive across either one. Of course, Rhode Island’s autonomy is constrained because we are only one state in our union. Mauritius is a sovereign nation that can set its own currency strategy in the world arena. But, monetary policy aside, Mauritius offers compelling inspirations for Rhode Island, navigating the challenge to distinguish ourselves while wedged between Boston and New York.

Why the comparison? I did not set out to validate Rhode Island’s economic-development plans. I went on a vacation with my son from California. We agreed to meet in Mauritius, knowing of its beauty, climate and lack of high-rise resorts. The draw of eco-tourism (waterfalls, mountain hikes, multicolored rock formations), Indian and African heritage and cuisine, and British colonial gardens were compelling enough to justify taking two back-to-back, red-eye flights to the other side of the world.

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As I rode from the airport toward the resort, I passed shiny office buildings such as Cybercity and international banking offices – signs of an educated, tech-savvy workforce and jobs. Billboards promote digital marketing and related tech services. Frankly, all that was a shock to me.

Mauritius is classified by the World Bank as upper middle income. For eight consecutive years through 2016, Mauritius has ranked first among African economies and 32nd in the world for ease of doing business. Beating out the entire continent of Africa, with countries hundreds of times larger than itself, Mauritius is successfully implementing its government program called “Achieving Meaningful Change.” Much like we in Rhode Island inventoried our assets with the help of the Brookings Institution, Mauritius went through a similar process.

According to the same World Bank report, Mauritius’ government encouraged economic diversification into Business Process Outsourcing, financial services and information technology. Figures issued by the government of Mauritius showed that through 2011, BPO grew at 70 percent annually, it is worth $1.6 billion, and employs more than 100,000 people. Offshore banking was introduced in 1988 as a first step toward developing Mauritius into an international financial center.

The creation of Cybercity, a high-tech, high-rise building visible from the highway was intended to transform Mauritius into “a cyber island,” offering a home to companies from all over the world to set up operations, manage data, facilitate e-commerce and establish call centers.

Economic success in Mauritius occurs simultaneously with efforts to improve literacy and focus on jobs. Mauritius’ government invested heavily in education improvements, causing primary school enrollment rates to soar to over 90 percent. Under Gov. Gina M. Raimondo’s leadership, Rhode Island partnered with Microsoft to achieve digital literacy by bringing computer science classes to every high school.

To realize one Mauritius goal of increasing young job seekers’ chances for permanent employment, government subsidies are extended for two additional years. That sounds much like R.I. Commerce Corp.’s Wavemaker Fellowships, which defer student-loan payments for up to four years. And to encourage employers to recruit unemployed people into full-time jobs, Mauritius grants fiscal incentives to the private sector for recruiting the formerly unemployed. Rhode Island’s Skills for Rhode Island’s Future gets the unemployed back to work by partnering with private companies needing talent. The parallels are striking.

Indeed, Mauritius and Rhode Island share many similarities. Both are blessed with unusually beautiful coastal locations and small, connected communities. Both strive for economic transformation. Mauritius, a teeny speck in the Indian Ocean, has bested the entire African continent as the easiest place to do business. Mauritius shows that … a small, nimble place can win the economic-development competition •

Barbara Braun Schoenfeld is a member of the board of directors of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce. She blogs her travels at worldgrazer.blogspot.com.

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