How Mauritius used policy to become Africa’s top business destination

Mauritius has long been held in high esteem as one of the best economies and business environments in Africa. Without looking closely at the numbers - it’s hard to understand what fuels that hype but when you contrast the island nation (and its practices) to peers in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, it starts becoming clearer why they are considered as the example to follow.

Some of the broader context that informs the assertion that Mauritius is one of the best places to conduct business in comes in the form of awards and rankings:

• Mauritius is considered one of the most business-friendly countries in sub-Saharan Africa, as a result of its political stability, good governance and an independent judiciary. It ranked first in Africa and 52nd as the most competitive nation in the world out of 141 countries in the 2019 Global Competitiveness Report published by the World Economic Forum.
• The 2022 Index of Economic Freedom, published by the Heritage Foundation, ranks Mauritius first in the Sub-Saharan Africa region among 47 countries and 30th globally.  Mauritius also ranked first in Sub-Saharan Africa for the second consecutive year in the Global Innovation Index Report 2021, and 52nd over 132 countries.
• Mauritius ranked 13th on ease of doing business out of 190 countries in the World Bank’s 2020 Doing Business report, reinforcing its status as a business-friendly country.

It’s easy to look at awards and think, “Well, that could just be tokenism.” From here it’s best to start working backwards and highlighting what sets the country apart from its regional counterparts in more practical terms and why the end up receiving these awards.

Read more: Why Mauritius is the country most prepared to embrace the age of artificial intelligence in Southern Africa