DR PATRICIA DAY HOOKOOMSING (2010 – 2012)

PATRICIA DAY-HOOKOOMSING: AMFCE PRESIDENT 2010-2011, FCEM COMMISSIONER FOR RECRUITMENT 2012 TO DATE

Since arriving in Mauritius in 1972 to join her Mauritian husband, Patricia has had a long and varied career in education and corporate training. She is now the owner and Managing Director of Consultancy Company Ltd (CCL), which offers corporate training programmes to both public and private organisations in Mauritius. An English/French bilingual, Patricia is also an experienced translator of academic and business documents for both Mauritian and foreign organisations. She has served on several institutional boards, including the Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), the Human Resource Development Council (HRDC) and the Mauritius Institute of Directors (MIoD). She is currently serving as independent director for the MCCI Business School. A language graduate and qualified teacher of English as a second language, Patricia also holds professional qualifications in finance and entrepreneurship, and is completing her thesis for a doctorate in education.

During her 2-year mandate as President of AMFCE in 2010 and 2011, Patricia carried on the work of her predecessors in developing the role of AMFCE as the leading association of women business-owners in Mauritius, and, in line with the objectives of AMFCE, organising various capacity-building activities to foster women’s economic empowerment, for instance, in May 2010, a workshop on Women in Business: the way forward to mark the FCEM Day for Women Entrepreneurs in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender , Child Development and Family Welfare. In May 2011, the AMFCE hosted the FCEM World Committee with the theme Women Entrepreneurs: the driving force for economic empowerment. Another facet of AMFCE’s social engagement was also brought to the fore through two charity dinners organised in December 2010 and 2011 with the theme of Dine with a Cause, the proceeds of which were donated respectively to an NGO working in special education for children and another working to improve awareness of and support for people suffering from Lupus.

The constraints faced in organising these activities were those typical of a small NGO relying entirely on its members’ voluntary commitment, energy and abilities. Over the years AMFCE has benefitted from the support of many talented and successful businesswomen who have been willing to give their time and energy to help their sisters in business progress. Without this collective engagement none of the activities described above would have been possible.

Patricia also continued the efforts to position AMFCE on the international scene. The AMFCE represented Mauritius at the COMESA FEMCOM meetings in 2010 and 2011, and also in 2010 at the UNDP seminar in Johannesburg, South Africa on the theme Capacity Development for Women Entrepreneurs Engaged in International Trade in Africa.

At the end of Patricia’s mandate in March 2012 the challenge for AMFCE was to continue developing its contribution to women economic empowerment in Mauritius and widen the scope of its activities to cover the southwest Indian Ocean region.