Seychelles' IDC "fairly successful" in 2023 with over $75m turnover

Savy said that one of the biggest challenges that IDC will face will most definitely be ecological, especially concerning coastal erosion. (Islands Development Company)

The Seychelles' Islands Development Company (IDC), a state-owned agency,  had a fairly successful year in 2023 and although had certain setbacks achieved most of its targets, said the chief executive on Thursday.

Glenny Savy told reporters that the setbacks "were mostly in terms of being able to complete things on time because there were several issues, much of which were not always due to problems in Seychelles but also problems outside Seychelles such as shipping, material supplies."

He said the proof of their success is in the growth and the results that the company produced last year especially financially.

"We are now turning over more than a billion rupees ($75.1 million) a year in terms of our various activities, and our profitability is good. It is above 10 percent, which is what an investor would expect to receive from their investments. We are now employing some 1,800 persons, a sizeable working population, especially for Seychelles," Savy shared.

Last year was also a year of major change for the company that moved its offices to the man-made Ile du Port for additional space.

"We have managed to move out of the small and tight office space that we were in, making space to grow. At the same time, we've also moved to new offices here at Ile Du Port, which will officially open in a few months from now. This will give our staff better working facilities. It has also allowed us to upgrade all of our management systems to a new level," he added.

Savy also provided updates and said that IDC has been quite successful in the operations of the islands, especially in terms of tourism, and aquaculture, as well as providing services and facilities to various operators on the islands.

Project development and designs have been put in place for Assumption Island and agriculture on Coetivy Island.

The CEO detailed the work that the company is doing as part of its social responsibility, which included handing over the keys to 20 more young families for a condominium project at Perseverance, another man-made island.

"Our contribution and commitment to the social development of our country will continue in various forms, for example, this year we will also assist in redeveloping our old Creole Institute that is falling apart and bringing it back to its former glory. We also plan on helping several schools," he told reporters.

Savy shared the vision of the IDC in the long term, especially in the next five years after the completion of the previous five-year development plan last year.

"We are on track; the team is strong. We've found that we have achieved most of our objectives over the last five years, we have even done more than what we expected to do. We are going to be submitting the next one to the government in the next few weeks for approval, we are well ahead," he shared.

For the next five years, Savy said that one of the biggest challenges that IDC will face will most definitely be ecological, especially concerning coastal erosion and one the biggest worries is going to be environmental degradation, especially to the beaches and coastline of the outer islands.

"We have achieved a lot in terms of conservation management and now the threat of coastal erosion is becoming a very big one I think a lot of our resources and energy in the next five years is going to be to find ways and means to mitigate climate change. Hopefully, we'll be able to come up with a few solutions which can then be used on Mahe and other inner islands that are also facing the same threat," he said.