Entrepreneurs Club of Mauritania Hosts a National Workshop on Business Environment and Role of SMEs

On June 2nd, 2022, the Entrepreneurs Club of Mauritania, organized a national workshop on business environment improvement and the role of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in economic development in Sahel countries like Mauritania. The workshop was sponsored by CIPE as part of the G5 Sahel Economic Coalition to which the Club belongs.

The workshop mobilized high-level government representatives from the central Ministry of Economics and the Promotion of Productive sectors, the Ministry of Finances as well as the Ministry of Trade. Over 60 participants from the private sector – associations and business – as well as academia and civil society organizations.

The workshop was organized around 3 main topics including the institutional and regulatory framework (presented by Mr. Aliou Sall), the fiscal regimes (by Legal and Tax Expert Mr. Diego Cueto), and the entrepreneurship development ecosystem (by Mrs. Oumou Ba Tall, CPE). After the presentations and the technical opinions, the workshop offered a general discussion forum to participants. The results of these consultative processes are 4 recommendations:

1. The need to define SME legally so that conditions of promotion and management are aligned with public policy expectations as well as private sector realities
2. The importance of having a national public-private dialogue that is inclusive and focused on business environment promotion
3. The need for more collaboration and partnership between the private sector representative associations so that the government can have a way to engage in dialogue with private sector in a way that includes youth, women, informal sector, and rural business world
4. The strategic requirement to call for more coordination and mobilization of international development partners to support public-private dialogue and the inclusion of private sector in reaching out sustainable development goals.

The workshop closed with a collective commitment to promote both inter-private dialogue and public-private dialogue. The largest business association, the Mauritanian Employer Association (UNPM), and the Ministry of Economics committed to supporting the recommendations and monitoring the next steps. The Club expressed high appreciation to CIPE both in Mauritania and in the regional approach which pushes further the voice of the private sector.

Watch Mr Haroune Sidatt, CIPE Representative in Mauritania, statement on SME’ role in Mauritania:

News reports on the event are available on Taqadoum and ElWiam.