Rima Ramsaran (2020-2023)

Rima Ramsaran : AMFCE President 2020-2023

Profile

Rima has had a very varied career, starting her professional life as Lecturer in Criminology / Criminal justice System at the University of Mauritius, then moving on to hands-on, practical experience in the private sector, as General Manager of a group of companies and eventually as Management Consultant. Now a full-fledged entrepreneur heading 2 companies, Rima is juggling between the somewhat brainy exigencies of the corporate world through Management Consultancy and the practical reality of construction sites (as a timber contractor), and just loving the experience.

Mission

Rima’s mandate as President of the AMFCE span over 2.5 years, from September 2020 – March 2023, and has been driven by the following objectives:

• Supporting existing members to ensure resilience in the difficult Covid- aftermath
• Consolidate AMFCE’s base / foundation, by increasing members and focusing inwards
• Promote the visibility of AMFCE and be the voice of Women Entrepreneurs in the society
• Create a culture of entrepreneurship amongst women in the Mauritian economy

Achievements

• Membership:
  The membership of AMFCE has more than tripled during Rima’s presidency, to reach the golden 3-digits figure (100+)
• Projects:
  • BWB
    The Business Without Borders (BWB) stems from the 5-years collaboration with the Australian High Commission, and was completely remodeled in 2020 to embrace digitalization, during the Covid pandemic. BWB consists of a capacity building cum mentoring program for established women entrepreneurs of the Indian Ocean region (Mauritius, Madagascar, Comoros, Seychelles, and Rodrigues), built around the Talent Learning Management System (TLMS) digital platform. 7 modules prepared by local and Australian trainers, all specialists in their respective areas, have been made available on-line. Participants are required to follow the modules on-line, at their own pace, accompanied by dedicated local and international mentors guiding them throughout and helping them apply the learning materials in their respective enterprises.The first batch of BWB was carried out with 50 participants in 2020-21 and the second batch saw an increase to 60 mentees, in 2022-23, with a success rate of 70% for BWB 1 (2020-21) and 83% for BWB 2 (2022-23).The main sponsors are the Australian High Commission and the MCB. BWB will develop into an Accelerator program in the years to come.
  • AWE
    Based on the success of BWB, AMFCE collaborated with the US-Embassy for Mauritius and Seychelles to develop the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) Start-Up Challenge in 2021. This program is an Incubator (capacity building cum mentoring program) for start-ups, and consists of 13 modules, oriented towards the creation of a Business Plan, and built around the digital platform DreamBuilder. As opposed to BWB though, the AWE modules have been prepared by the Thunderbird School of Global management in the US. AMFCE therefore comes in to:
    – Contextualize the modules to the Mauritian reality through 4 workshops &
    – Operationalise the Business Plan, through the handholdersAWE batch 1 was carried out in 2021, with 23 participants from Mauritius and 2 from Rodrigues, and saw the collaboration with the Global Rainbow Foundation, in an attempt to empower women with physical disabilities. AWE 1 was closed with a success rate of 96%. AWE Batch 2 extended to Seychelles as well, and included FAREI to specifically target women in the agricultural sector. Success rate: 100% with 30 participants.
  • COMFWB
    In August 2021, AMFCE started negotiations to represent Mauritius at the COMESA Federation of National Associations of Women in Business (COMFWB) and was elected in September 2021, as the COMFWB – Mauritius Chapter. In 2021-22, AMFCE successfully carried out a 3-days Seminar under the Regional Enterprise Competitiveness and Access to Market Program (RECAMP) from the 24th – 26th November 2021, the target audience being women in the agro- industry and leather manufacturing. Over and above, AMFCE was able to get a financing for the recruitment of a part-time Liaison Officer.
    
  • FCEM – MoU
    AMFCE was privileged to have hosted the FCEM World Committee meeting in May 2022 accommodating about 100 international participants physically, 50 local participants and about 50 virtual participants. This international meeting, centered around the theme: The Circular Economy: Women Entrepreneurs as the Drivers of Change, saw the signature of an MoU between AMFCE, FCEM & COMFWB, to bridge the gap between the regional and the international by encouraging the 21 member countries of COMFWB to integrate the FCEM network.
    
  • Revamping of the website
    The website was completely revamped for the FCEM meeting, to specifically market the event, and readjusted thereafter to meet the specific requirements of the Association. The website now better reflects the current realities of the AMFCE.
    
  • Corporate pictures
    In the context of the development of the website and to ensure adequate visibility of its members, AMFCE sponsored 2 photo-shoots to avail members of an AMFCE Corporate picture and enable them to feature on the website, with the banners of AMFCE in the background.
    
  • Mobile App
    A Mobile App was developed in the context of the FCEM event, and thereafter, was reviewed to ensure better communication with and amongst members, but especially to enable B2B collaborations amidst AMFCE.
    
  • Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
    To secure sponsorships for the FCEM event, AMFCE has applied and been awarded CSR-eligibility, which now enables the Association to secure funding more easily.
  • AMFCE Promos
    More than 50 members’ profile and their businesses were showcased on AMFCE’s social media pages, during the AMFCE Promos, which ran from August to December 2022.
  • AMFCE Push
    AMFCE launched the AMFCE Push which, through identified members who have had a prior exposure to some entrepreneurship-related entities, is geared up to assist AMFCE members in order to avoid bottlenecks when dealing with institutions. The list of resource persons has been shared; and members’ constraints with institutions are being handled on a one-to-one basis.
• Members events
  • 9th November 2020: “The Purpose & Implications of Data Protection”
  • 28th November 2020: End-of-year party
  • 23rd January 2021: “Developing Mindfulness to Achieve Excellence in Entrepreneurship”
  • 25th February 2021: “Tailored Financial Planning, based on Family Financial Resources, Medium to Long Term Goals and Risk Profile”
  • Lockdown Series:
    – 18th April 2021: “Confinement – A Healthy Lifestyle Guide”
    – 25th April 2021: Mindfulness Meditation
    – 16th May 2021: Live cooking class
  • 27th July 2021: AGM & SGM (for the Amendments to the Constitution)
  • 14th August 2021: New Executive’s Induction
  • 24th August 2021: New members ‘ Induction
  • 18th September 2021: “Pamper Yourself with Swarovski”
  • 19th October 2021: “CSG – The Challenges forward”
  • 28th October 2021: Launching of AWE Start-Up Challenge
  • 18th November 2021: “The Intricacies of the PRGF”
  • 24th November 2021: Launching of the RECAMP Program under COMFWB
  • 30th November 2021: Graduation of BWB 1
  • 5th February 2022: Beginning of year party
  • 9th March 2022: AGM 2022
  • 30th March 2022: Work session with members for the preparation of FCEM 2022
  • FCEM 2022: 25th – 27th May 2022
  • 5th July 2022: Graduation of AWE 1
  • 26th July 2022: “Employment Laws for Entrepreneurs”
  • 4th August 2022: “Relevance of Marketing Communications in today’s context”.
  • 4th September 2022: Introduction to MCB Juice Pro and Punch platform
  • 4th September 2022: SGM for the changes in AMFCE’s Constitution
  • 4th September 2022: Members’ B2B session
  • 4th October 2022: “Sextortion”
  • 19th November 2022: End-of-year party in glamour & Bubbles around the theme of the Great Gatsby
  • 2nd February 2023: Induction of new members
  • 2nd February 2023: B2B session
  • 21st February 2023: Graduation of BWB 2
  • 15th March 2023: Graduation of AWE 2
  • AGM 2023: 29th March 2023

The Way Forward – Restructuring & Consolidation

The sizeable number of members and projects under way is currently pointing to the need for the consolidation of processes and operations, to enable AMFCE to still move further. A subcommittee has therefore been created, consisting of active Past Presidents and Past Executive members who will be handling AMFCE’s projects; thereby allowing the Executive team to take on more – and new – projects, as each President moves on to the projects subcommittee after their presidency to keep on implementing the programs they have worked upon during their mandate. The challenge is now for each respective President to bring in new projects and leave their indelible footprints in AMFCE!