“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten. “  - G K Chesterton

I came back to Mauritius a few years ago to slay some dragons. Or put another way, I moved my life, my family and my career here a few years ago to help my fellow shareholders define and develop a new boutique bank for the region. Boy, that sounds a lot different that way, doesn’t it! That project is better known as AfrAsia Bank Limited. For sure, to date, I can say “C’est un plaisir”.

We all know Mauritius is a beacon in this region for political maturity, relatively good governance, economic empowerment and regulation.  That is the fairy tale success story of Mauritius. 

But Mauritius is now moving into bigger leagues and much more competition in terms of size, scale and sophistication whether its tourism or financial services, the two sectors of the economy that I would argue have the most mid-term potential for us to keep on keeping on. We have overcome many challenges to date due to our intimate size, community cohesion and ability to rely largely upon ourselves or our traditional stakeholders. But here be two new dragons that we must now slay, for our fairy tale to continue.

First, the physical infrastructure is developing amazingly quickly in some regards but in other ways seems to be standing still or without comprehensive urban planning. We are building high rise office parks without large enough motorways, bus links, parking or social amenities.

Similarly, numerous IRS/RES and other normal housing developments are being built in isolated areas again without being joined up in sensible ways to existing infrastructure.

Many are attracted by the beautiful beaches and cosmopolitan citizens of this island. But the bottom line is whether there is sufficient ease of commuting, choices of nearby schools and quality housing and cultural attractions? Serious professionals, academics, artists and investors that we wish to attract need that too. Why is getting a flight connection to India or Singapore a complete inconvenience? At the moment, I don’t believe this is affecting us too seriously yet and indeed my office is flooded by CVs of returning Mauritians or expats like myself every week. But I do observe as well that many of those people are increasingly re-assessing whether they made the right decision once they have settled in; and all these little challenges start to accumulate and intrude into quality of life. Dragons these do become.

Second, the knowledge infrastructure in financial services is certainly moving forward. I applaud all the progress to date.  However, whether its ISDA agreements, Foundation or Limited Liability partnerships legislation, tax treaty prioritization, tax neutral funds, money market and primary dealer development or GBL1 and GBL2 KYC requirements, we must move faster.

Nor are we customizing our infrastructure sufficiently to meet our Mauritian circumstances, our unique role of being where Asia meets Africa as a financial platform in this region. Again, as Chesterton says “You could compile the worst book in the world entirely out of selected passages from the best writers in the world.

We are sitting at a unique moment in history where many other competing financial centres have gone bankrupt financially or ethically with secretive, tax evading and socially unacceptable ways of business. Mauritius stands unique in that we indeed are a centre of substance with a real economy and a large, talented population. But talent and loft ambitions alone won’t continue to slay our dragons. Efficient execution and professional planning will however.

I have had the good fortune to work in many of the leading centres of finance and commerce in the world. Our fairy tale of standing alongside those is within our grasp. Believe in it. But also do believe that there are always dragons in our way. Let’s beat them, quickly.
Faster, please.

The author is CEO of AfrAsia Bank Limited, a boutique regional corporate and private bank headquartered in Mauritius. He is also President of the local CFA Institute Society, the Society of Financial Analysts of Mauritius.

James Benoit