Mauritius: The fourth edition of the National Leadership Engine (NLE) project culminated with a National Convention on Saturday, 21 January 2023, at the seat of the National Productivity and Competitiveness Council (NPCC) in Ebène.
The grand winner and the two runners-up were announced on that occasion and were awarded a cash prize of Rs 75 000, Rs 50 000, and Rs 25 000, respectively.
The winners are as follows:
Grand Winner: Nu-Nat-li project, from the region of Grand Port, used locally sourced raw materials, such as the ‘Vacoas’ with low Carbon Dioxide footprint and biodegradable, to design and create new-end products.
First Runner Up: Soil Strong project, from the region of Moka, aimed to bolster the image of the farmer from planter to food hero.
Second Runner Up: SaVer Banane Project, from the region of Moka, comprised the production of banana flour.
More than 200 youth, aged 16 years and above, enrolled for the training in the following regions, namely Bambous, Barkly, Floréal, Montagne Blanche, Mahebourg, Pamplemousses, Port Louis, Rivière du Rempart, Souillac and, Ebène.
They were empowered with personal and social competencies, which they had to demonstrate by conceptualising and implementing community-based projects in their locality.
The training was completed in September 2022, followed by regional assessments of projects and a national assessment that was held in October and November 2022, respectively. A total of 30 community-based projects were presented in NLE 2022. The projects focused on a range of issues pertaining to the environment, animal rights and mental health, amongst others.
The NLE 2022 Convention was also marked by an online motivational speech by a Swiss expert in the field of innovation and coach, Mr Marius Frey, who spoke about the importance of servant leadership, which is based on the idea that leaders prioritise serving the greater good and serve their team and organisation first.
The Minister of Industrial Development, SMEs and Cooperatives, Mr Soomilduth Bholah, the Executive Director of the NPCC, Mr Ashit Gungah, and other personalities were also present.
In his address, Minister Bholah lauded the NPCC for this initiative that allows youth to work on social and community projects as well as awakens the leadership qualities they possess.
Furthermore, he stressed that it is essential that the youth be imbibed with an innovative mindset to create a new generation of entrepreneurs. On this note, he commended the determination of the youths to develop solutions in their own ways to tackle issues in society.
The Minister also dwelt on some areas where his Ministry is providing assistance so as to encourage young people to embark on the journey of entrepreneurship.
These include:
- Information and communication technology,
- Renewable energy,
- Agriculture and artificial intelligence.
For his part, Mr Gungah underlined that the NLE project empowers young people not only to help them stay away from the drug scourge but also to allow them to come up with solutions to prevent other young people from becoming prey to drugs.
On this score, he exhorted the youth to take the initiatives to help in the fight against drugs in Mauritius and to collaboratively find sustainable solutions to challenges as regards climate change, geopolitical tensions, health and the environment.
As regards the NLE Convention, the Executive Director highlighted that it is a matter of great satisfaction that the NLE Action Drivers (NLEAD) is a reality today as its objective is to offer a platform to all NLE participants to develop and demonstrate their leadership skills.
The National Leadership Engine
The NLE is an initiative of the NPCC in collaboration with the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sports and Recreation, which aims at building leadership capabilities among youth. The NLE is based on the “Leadership Brand”, developed by the NPCC with various stakeholders in 2015. It consists of four differentiators: Together, Innovating, Trusted and Excellence.
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