Mauritius Research and Innovation Council

The National SME Incubator Scheme (NSIS) is a scheme initiated by the Government of the Republic of Mauritius to encourage the creation of Innovative businesses for the socio-economic benefit of the Republic of Mauritius through a nurturing and training process in a conducive environment provided by Incubators.

Aim:

It aims at promoting initiation and development of innovative start-ups facilitated by a network of Private Sector- led Accredited Business Incubators

Objectives:

• To collaborate with accredited private sector-led Business Incubators with a view to enhancing the development of innovative entrepreneurship, thus boosting innovation and creation of jobs and wealth in the SME sector.

• To encourage collaboration between relevant stakeholders to consolidate the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Mauritius geared towards fostering creation of Innovative Businesses, creation of new knowledge, value, and wealth.

The NSIS ensures a structured training/ mentoring approach to start-ups, provided by the NSIS Accredited Incubators in three phases:

• PRE-INCUBATION (Ideation phase): From idea to first plan/ Prototype

• INCUBATION (pre-start-up to start-up): From first plan to Start-up

• ACCELERATION (Established Start-up): Growth of Start-up

The NSIS has been operational since December 2017, has received 271 project applications, has graduated 22 start-ups, has been working in collaboration with 7 Accredited Incubators and has 32 ongoing projects as of March 2022.