For almost a decade, SME development in Mauritius has been guided by the 2017 SME Master Plan. It set out a bold, ambitious vision in which small and medium enterprises would become the primary engine driving GDP growth, national employment, innovation, and exports. By 2026, SMEs were expected to contribute more than half of the national GDP, generate nearly two-thirds of all jobs, and play a significantly stronger role in exports.
For policymakers, industry leaders, and ecosystem builders, as this master plan approaches the end of its intended lifecycle, it is critical to ask: Has the Mauritius SME ecosystem evolved as intended? The data suggests it has not. This is not necessarily a failure of execution, but rather a reflection of how profoundly the global economic landscape has shifted—and why we urgently need a refreshed, second-generation Mauritius SME strategy.
Where the Master Plan Began
The 2017 plan established high-watermark targets:
- Raise SME GDP share to 52 percent
- Lift the SME employment share to 64 percent
- Expand SME export participation to approximately 18 percent
- Shift a large base of micro and low-value firms into higher-productivity activities
It correctly prioritized skills development, technology adoption, innovation, and greater ecosystem coordination. However, the mechanisms for achieving these goals were designed for a pre-2020 economy.
Where We Stand Today
A review of official economic studies and diagnostics from 2019 to 2024 reveals clear, stagnant trends regarding SME development in Mauritius:
- SME GDP share has hovered consistently around 34 to 36 percent, far below the 52 percent target.
- SME employment share has actually slipped from a baseline of 55 percent down to roughly 47 to 50 percent.
- SME export participation has seen marginal increases to around 10 to 12 percent, but not at a scale that fundamentally alters the national export structure.
Crucially, structural change has been exceptionally limited. The vast majority of SMEs remain heavily concentrated in retail, traditional small services, and low-margin activities. Technology adoption remains sluggish, managerial capability gaps persist, and only a fractional percentage of firms have successfully migrated into higher-productivity sectors.
Where Mauritius Has Progressed
It is important to acknowledge where meaningful progress has occurred. Institutional support has strengthened, with SME Mauritius consolidating advisory services and expanding support schemes. The financing ecosystem is markedly stronger today, featuring new equity funds, venture capital instruments, and green finance lines. Furthermore, public and private sector collaboration has improved through platforms like the Business Link Platform, which aims to create new access to procurement opportunities.
Why Outcomes Are Still Lagging
If the support structure has improved, why are the macroeconomic outcomes still lagging? Research points to highly fragmented support, overlapping public programmes, low uptake among micro-enterprises, and weak technology absorption at the firm level. Additionally, there is minimal systemic monitoring of actual outcomes versus outputs. Simply put: Mauritius added more tools to the shed, but did not build the system-level coherence required to drive deep structural change. (We expand on this operational fragmentation in our analysis on Building a Unified SME Support Architecture).
The Master Plan Is Not Wrong. It Is Outdated.
The original plan could not have anticipated the massive disruptions of the 2020–2025 period. These include the COVID-19 pandemic, aggressively accelerated digitalization, fundamental shifts in global value chains, the normalization of remote work, and stringent new sustainability expectations. SME competitiveness looks entirely different today than it did in 2017. Mauritius needs a strategy that reflects this new, complex reality. (For context on technological shifts, see Artificial Intelligence in Mauritius: Readiness and Reality).
What Mauritius Needs Now: A Data-Driven Scorecard
The next phase of SME development must be vastly more coordinated, ruthlessly data-driven, and structurally future-ready. A national SME competitiveness scorecard should be the central mechanism of this approach. This scorecard would provide an annual, objective benchmark across several pillars:
- Firm-level productivity
- Digital readiness and AI adoption
- Innovation capability
- Export potential
- Skills density
- Sustainability and green transition metrics
This would finally give Mauritius a clear, trusted, and unified picture of SME strength, helping to guide highly targeted, rather than generalized, policy interventions.
Final Thoughts
SMEs are, and will remain, a central part of Mauritius’s economic narrative. The 2017 Master Plan provided an important foundation. However, the next strategy must build upon it with a sharper, uncompromising focus on digital transformation, ecosystem governance, and the green transition. With a true second-generation SME strategy, local enterprises can finally move from merely supporting baseline economic growth to actively shaping Mauritius’s future trajectory.
Next Step: Are you involved in shaping SME policy or institutional support? Reach out to discuss a strategy workshop on implementing data-driven governance and AI readiness frameworks within the Mauritian ecosystem.
