Training in Seychelles aims to develop more blue economy businesses

SeyCCAT launched the fifth call for proposals under the Blue Grants fund on Monday. (Salifa Karapetyan, Seychelles News Agency) 

(Seychelles News Agency) - The Enterprise Seychelles Agency (ESA) is initiating a series of information and training sessions to get people in Seychelles to venture into businesses in the blue economy sector. 

The sessions have been made possible through a grant of $72,000 through Seychelles' Conservation Climate Adaptation Trust (SeyCCAT)'s Blue Grants Fund 3. 

The blue economy project entitled "Entrepreneurship Development in the Blue Economy Sector" is aimed at helping with the creation of employment in priority sectors like fisheries. 

"The money will be used for conducting informative sessions and training with members of the public in several regions of Mahe, Praslin and La Digue to entice them to participate in the development of the blue economy sector and educate them on funding opportunities under the SeyCCAT Grant," Angelic Appoo said via an email interview last week.

According to Appoo the funds will also be used to develop promotional materials on the blue economy sector "such as leaflets, billboards and videos. Additionally, the grant will be used to produce a report to be submitted to government on the various challenges and solutions that will contribute towards developing the blue economy sector."

The project will run for 12 months. A press communique from the agency said that in 2019, Eco-Sol Consulting, also, a SeyCCAT grantee, undertook a detailed assessment of the blue economy entrepreneurship ecosystem. The findings have provided evidence for much-needed interventions and effective programs that ESA will deliver on to support and assist the blue economy enterprises. 

According to the communique the information gathered, capacity building programmes for staff of the agency and that of its parent ministry, the Ministry of Investment, Entrepreneurship and Industry will be developed and implemented.

One of the key expected results will be a clear implementation-ready work plan on how the government will best assist the ministry in the blue economy.

"The project will entail four informative sessions, four training sessions, a trade fair and several videos produced for promotion of businesses in the sector," explained Appoo, adding that the target audience is a mix of existing businesses as well as start-ups. 

"We aim to attract the potential SeyCCAT applicants, hence it can be any business already in the blue economy sector as well as new aspiring entrepreneurs who are planning to set up a new business in the sector," explained the chief executive.

Appoo said that: "At the end of the project, we aim to have enticed more people to venture into businesses related to the blue economy sector, as well as put forward recommendations for the further development of the sector."

Meanwhile, SeyCCAT which is a first of its kind in Seychelles for ocean conservation launched the fifth call for proposals under the Blue Grants fund on Monday. Any locally registered non-governmental organisations, civil society organisations, businesses, parastatals, government agencies or departments, and citizens of Seychelles can submit a proposal, as long as they have legally existed in the island nation for a minimum of one year. The deadline to submit concept notes is June 11 at 5 pm.

Full details about SeyCCAT, the application process and the specific request for proposals can be found online at www.seyccat.org

SeyCCAT was established in November 2015 after the debt-for-nature swap which saw $21.6 million of the external debt of Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, re-structured on more favourable terms.

Nearly three dozen "blue" projects worth a combined $1.4 millions have been financed under Seychelles Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust (SeyCCAT) Blue Grant over the last five years.

The 34 projects which emphasised investment in women and youth in the Blue Economy are women and youth-led, have young people and women as beneficiaries and are supporting small-scale fishers.