Advertorial

Mon Trésor’s latest campaign tagline is ‘Move south’. That statement signals a call to all future residents to come experience all that southern Mauritius has to offer and be a part of the premier smart city of the island. Therein lies a promise to fulfil the quest for a harmonious and balanced lifestyle amidst a modern, carefully planned and sustainable environment. Mon Trésor positions itself as the ideal neighbourhood to enjoy a rewarding lifestyle.

The new residential offering proposes modern amenities embedded in a pristine coastal haven. An irresistible live, work, play environment hushed by nature’s hums, harmoniously designed and surrounded by lush gardens and iconic landscapes.

Strategically located near the country’s international airport, Mon Trésor smart city’s vision is to capitalise on the already ongoing rapid expansion of airport-linked commercial facilities as recently mentioned by the prime minister of Mauritius while officially inaugurating a new wing of the airport terminal. The increasing connectivity of Mauritius with the world and its intensifying air links with some 11 international airport hubs and 30 airlines serving the country is resolutely placing the country as a major hub on the Africa-Asia routes.

As already observed in other countries, this expansion, according to Aerotropolis co-author John Kasarda, is making ’air gateways anchors of 21st-century metropolitan development, where distant travellers and locals alike can conduct business, exchange knowledge, shop, eat, sleep and be entertained without going more than 15 minutes from the airport’. Kasarda adds: ‘This functional and spatial evolution is transforming many city airports into airport cities.’

Yet Mon Trésor will remain far from the maddening crowd of the mainstream conurbation areas that stretch from Port Louis, the capital city, towards the north-west and central areas. The new residential component of Mon Trésor consists of apartments, townhouses and villas accessible to Mauritians and foreigners alike, priced from MUR7.2 million. The proposed residential precincts complement the activity mix as earmarked by the governing master plan, which was produced by renowned international engineering, design and project management consultancy firm Royal Haskonning and has benefited from funding from the European Investment Fund.

The commercial development comprises a business gateway; a trade port and free-trade zone/light industrial compound; and a commercial park. The vicinity around SSR International Airport, where Mon Trésor is positioned, is expected to become a major economic hub for the country, according to local authorities.

‘Major airports have become key nodes in global production and enterprise systems, offering them speed, agility, and connectivity,’ says Kasarda. ‘They are also powerful engines of local economic development, attracting aviation-linked businesses of all types to their environs. These include, among others, time-sensitive manufacturing and distribution facilities; hotel, entertainment, retail, convention, trade and exhibition complexes; and office buildings that house air travel-intensive executives and professionals.’

The various components of the Mon Trésor smart city combine these elements. The Mon Trésor business gateway is already operational. Its first phase, an office park, has housed the Omnicane headquarters since the end of 2018. The business gateway will cover 55 ha with office and coworking spaces for rent.

The Trade Port and Free-trade Zone, and their infrastructures, are under way and will extend over 24 ha. The Freeport Park zone will offer an attractive tax regime and other incentives, together with the benefits of preferred access to international markets as per the regional agreements Mauritius is part of.

The retail centre development will feature a 10 000 m2 shopping mall with an array of retail outlets. This major component of the development is designed to boost the neighbouring region.

The commercial park spreads out over 17 ha and consists of 50 plots available for sale to local and foreign buyers. The plots, ranging between 2 039 m² and 5 121 m², have been designed to meet the needs of commercial buildings of five storeys or fewer. Visitor parking and a drop-off zone will be available at the entrance of the business centre.

These components, tailored for modern businesses willing to boost the Mauritian economy and, more specifically, from this part of the island, follow the construction of the airport’s Holiday Inn hotel. Operational since 2014, the Holiday Inn Mauritius Mon Trésor is the country’s first-ever airport hotel and is the initial landmark to the country’s first project to be issued a smart city certificate by the authorities.

The smart city promoters are also setting up a state-of-the-art film studio. This innovative first for the country will be established in the premises of the old sugar mill. The film studio will host international productions and comprise five sound studios; a props workshop; office space; trailer park; and a parking zone. The studio development will, of course, provide new career opportunities for young Mauritians, particularly those residing in the immediate neighbourhoods.

Sustainability is at the heart of Mon Trésor’s residential component. The development will feature cycling tracks finely integrated into street networks, including a royal palm forest, the beach and coastline access.

This will enable residents and visitors to move around freely and safely in an eco-friendly and healthy way. Mon Trésor will also have medical services, schools, convenience stores and a beach club.

It is important to note that the development and its components are regulated by the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM). This standard is applied during the early planning and design stages of a development. It offers a holistic framework with key target benchmarks that assist decision-makers to better understand and improve on the impact their decisions will have on the longer-term environmental, social and economic aspects of the development.

The current standard can be used to assess projects in most parts of the world. However, for areas with more complex ecosystems and planning requirements, BREEAM offers a bespoke option that helps tailor the criteria to better reflect a country/region’s environmental, political, economic and cultural climate.

BREEAM benefits local authorities, developers, master planners and community members by:

• Helping to create sustainable communities that are good for the environment and its people, and are also economically successful
• Embedding  sustainable principles and goals within the master plan from the outset, helping to create places where people want to live and work, enhancing employee satisfaction
• Providing a framework to improve efficiencies during the master planning process, saving time and money throughout the project
• Facilitating the planning process with tools and targets to assist with sustainable decision-making
• Providing independent third-party certification of the sustainability of a development’s master plan
• Contributing to project participants’ and tenants’ corporate social responsibility, business reporting and sustainable business leadership.

As required by the registration process, all stakeholders and, most importantly, the neighbouring localities have been and continue to be regularly consulted, appraised and updated on the various components of the Mon Trésor initiative, and their respective stages of advancement.

A comprehensive survey has been conducted in the various surrounded villages, with a view to sensitising residents, especially the youth, on the job and career opportunities that will be made available.

This survey provides valuable insight on the need for training.

This illustrates the progressive inclusive development approach that characterises the Mon Trésor smart city project. This is a trademark of the socio-economic and historical DNA of Omnicane, the Mauritian conglomerate behind the launch of the smart city project.

Omnicane illustrates the successful transformation of a century-old sugar industry into a modern, state-of-the-art cane cluster, embodied by its now integrated and sustainable agro-industrial ecosystem located at La Baraque, l’Escalier.

The La Baraque facility is visited regularly by foreign heads of state and other dignitaries together with business leaders from around the world, proving that Omnicane is a major socio-economic player. Through the Mon Trésor smart city, Omnicane intend to pursue its vision, namely integrating energies. It is fully committed to the sustainable development of the region and has nurtured its eco-sustainable footprint as a responsible corporate citizen for more than a hundred years, to the benefit of all its stakeholders.

Omnicane House, Mon Trésor Business Gateway
New Airport Access Road, Plaine Magnien, 51521, Mauritius
+230 660 0600
[email protected]
www.montresor.mu

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This year Henley Business School Africa enrolled 329 students into its MBA programme. It’s the biggest class the school has ever had, so big in fact that it’s been split into five intakes. It’s a far cry from where the school was in 2011 – light years in fact.

Then, Henley Africa was a small, locally accredited operation of an overseas business school, basically delivering its MBA degree. That year 30 students graduated. In 2019 the school will graduate almost 1 000 students across a broad spectrum of internationally accredited qualifications; from the higher certificate in management to the advanced certificate, diploma, post-graduate diploma in management practice and the Master’s in business administration.

When the school started this journey, it depended on the MBA programme for 98% of its revenue. These days the MBA’s portion is down to 30% to 40%, with the balance made up by other programmes, especially its executive education offering, which has grown from nothing into a US$6 million-a-year operation. Today, the school has a total student body of 3 500 students; two-thirds of all Henley MBA students come from its Africa campus and three-quarters of the flexible MBA cohort.

Henley Business School Africa has not only developed from what was in essence a classic business start-up, bootstrapping itself into a fully fledged business school; it has also diversified its offerings.

The school had to do this to properly respond to South Africa’s and indeed Africa’s needs, where not everyone comes to business school after a conventional undergraduate degree and time in management. On the contrary, many students had the requisite experience and ability, but never the opportunity – this had to be created through the school’s unique academic pathway of learning, which can effectively take someone with a school leaver’s certificate all the way to Master’s level, without leaving Henley or, even more importantly, their jobs.

The flexible ‘family-friendly’ MBA was one of the movements the school founded to break the age-old trope of the Marriage Break up Academy, but Henley has played around with the concept of the MBA in other equally important areas, such as introducing a Master’s in business activism – or its mobilising business in action programme. Its MBAid is an outreach to NGOs and NPOs to give them vital management input and prove that business schools can turn their energies to social good and become deeply localised in the process. To date, the school has worked with 350 of these organisations. Henley Africa wanted to change the face of business education too, through constant innovation, immersive learning and corporate activism in a country that is often as equally defined by its inequality as its recent deposed kleptocracy. Henley Africa has gone from 20% female to 42% in its MBA programme and from about 32% black students to 68%.

Its executive education programmes, which didn’t exist when it started eight years ago, comprise 60% women and 80% black students, and is twice the size of the MBA programme. Henley Africa also runs a coaching programme – the Professional Certificate in Coaching as does Henley UK. In addition, it provides the highest number of MBA scholarships – 30 this year – in the whole of Africa, to allow the school to cast its net as widely as possible, to infuse its classes with diversity and reward local heroes, giving them critical skills to become even better and bigger community leaders.

Henley Africa continues to innovate – through Henley #FIRE (Full Immersion Reality Education), #ICE (its school of Innovation Creativity and Entrepreneurship) and now #AIR (African Insight and Research) and #EARTH (Environmental Activism through Research and Training at Henley).

The last two innovations are particularly potent in the African context: land because of its historical connotations of dispossession and its importance now for sustainable growth for all; and research that is not just relevant to the African context but is also sustainable.

As a business school, Henley Africa believes it has to show that it can deliver great value and create new services for a growing client base beyond its students, without being subsidised, exactly as other businesses have to.

Charity always starts at home and Henley Africa practises what it preaches, determined to break the cobbler’s children syndrome where the cobbler’s kids are the only ones without a decent pair of shoes. The school is a passionate supporter of both employment equity and black economic empowerment, contributing to transforming South Africa from its racist exclusionary past. Henley Africa has grown from five staff to 70 full-time and 150 part-time staff. In addition, 68% of its faculty teaching custom programmes are women.

The minimum wage paid at Henley Africa is more than triple the national minimum to ensure everyone receives a living wage; everyone gets medical aid and there’s a staff welfare fund too for those unexpected emergencies. All the staff receive free education. Some have moved from receptionists into programme management and others are now enrolled for their MBAs; or are pursuing a range of programmes from matric to Master’s degrees at other schools and universities, all supported by Henley Africa.

Henley Business School Africa has followed an unprecedented upward trajectory since 2011, a 900% increase in turnover being just one of the markers of this success.

The real success story is how this former little agency has developed into a stand-alone, fully functional multidisciplinary business school with its own quality assurance and teaching and learning committees allowing the parent organisation to have less detailed involvement but with a far more intense British-based quality-assurance overview, coupled with the excellent quality assurance from the South African Council on Higher Education.

It’s a source of great joy to all at Henley Africa – how well its students do in the blindly assessed externally moderated MBA examinations. Its student body is at least 70% black and at least 50% women; and the South African MBA students do as well or better than the British or Germans. In fact, their marks are as good as anyone’s in the world, which means that what Henley has in South Africa is contrary to the enduring mythologies of the colonisation of the mind and that one is no good.

Eight years after this journey began, perhaps what is most interesting is how from its colonial and British roots, Henley has become emancipated as a fully-fledged, full-service business school in its own right, assertively decolonised to provide the best possible business education to as many as possible to build the South African economy.

Tel: +27 (0)11 808 0860
[email protected]
www.henleysa.ac.za ∞

Mobicel is a technology company that embodies the typically African characteristics of independence, resourcefulness and innovation, positioning itself as a hero for the South Africa’s mobile phone users and continuing to thrive in a fiercely competitive market.

In 2007, founder and CEO Ridhwan Khan established Mobicel, based on his passionate belief that South Africans deserve better. He recognised that technology is a tool for empowerment and he knew that a mobile phone isn’t simply a device. It empowers people to interact with and shape their world. It’s an extension of one’s personality, voice and senses. So by putting a mobile phone in a person’s hand, Mobicel is empowering people to have, do and be more.

Pole position
Recent statistics show that Mobicel is the leading mobile brand in South Africa in terms of sales. Mobicel sells more devices than any other brand in the market.

A report issued by Counterpoint has shown that within the smartphone segment, Mobicel has seen the highest growth rate in market share – from 6% in 2017 to 16% in 2018. The growth of Mobicel smartphones, driven by the Mobicel Astro, places the company as the largest mobile phone brand in South Africa in 2018.

Be more
From the very beginning, Mobicel has lived its ‘be more’ ethos. Knowing that mobile phones are a necessity and not a luxury, the company set out to put these devices in more people’s hands at affordable prices.

Its mission is nothing short of revolutionary: power through technology; by the people, for the people. From small beginnings, Mobicel has grown to be a major player in the South African mobile phone market. It designs and manufactures handsets that hold their own alongside global brands. The challenge is always to create and market this technology at prices that are not merely competitive, but a fraction of those offered by its big-name competitors. This is a challenge it has consistently met and surpassed.

Mobicel constantly strives to be more, so that its customers can too. Today it stands firmly positioned in its local market, and poised to make an explosive entry into the global industry. More freedom, more self-empowerment, more style, ease and affordability – these form the core of Mobicel.

Bigger picture
To be more means doing more with what one has, and that is an art Mobicel has mastered. The company is able to provide its fellow South Africans with true value in a device.

Mobicel devices are built with key consumer price-points in mind throughout the development process, which ensures that key features are included in all devices and that consumers always receive true value.

When it comes to developing smartphones, Mobicel has listened to what South Africans need, and in doing so, it has created mobile phones that add value to the customer’s wallet. In keeping with its founding vision, Mobicel has a device for everyone: from basic, retro-style feature phones to feature-packed smartphones.

Sound outlook
Mobicel’s goal has always been ‘for the people, by the people’. It understands its market’s mobile needs and aims to meet these needs, as the company consistently grows and expands its product range. It will continue to form lasting partnerships with its distributors in order to increase growth and gain a better understanding of its market. Mobicel is continuously looking for ways to improve not only its products but its services too as it expands into the continent.

Solid teamwork
Currently, the Mobicel workforce is about 200-strong, including salespeople, call-centre operators, administration, technicians and engineers. Khan – EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year 2018 – leads the management team and represents Africa on a global stage.

+27 (0)11 541 3500
[email protected]
www.mobicel.co.za

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South Africa is a water-stressed country, receiving an average annual rainfall of 492 mm, while the rest of the Earth receives 985 mm. In addition, the WWF cautions that 98% of South Africa’s water has already been allocated to users, leaving little surplus water to cater for a growing population and demand.

With this in mind, prepaid water – as with prepaid electricity – is a good solution to more sustainable consumption and management of shared resources.

Smart water
Smart water has many of the answers for South Africa, the world’s 30th-driest country and one that spends ZAR7 billion a year because of water losses.

Marcus Thulsidas, business development director of Utility Systems, a Sebata Water Technologies company, says the focus needs to move from crisis management to the implementation of proactive water-saving technologies – because water shortages promise to be an ongoing issue.

In addition, infrastructure, reticulation and bulk meters have not been well maintained over the past 25 years, with many leaks resulting in a huge amount of water being wasted.

In this context, one should consider a smart water-supply system fitted with sensors to measure water pressure, chemical composition and flow. When undesirable changes occur, authorities can take immediate action.

Technology has the potential to win the fight to reduce water consumption. Smart meters can detect leaks and tampering, and monitor water in almost real time (while it can take a consumer four months to detect leaks). With this control, consumers can manage their own consumption and prevent waste.

Prepaid water means that the consumer purchases water credit in the form of a prepaid water token. When entered into the user interface unit (located in the consumer’s home), the token instructs the water management device to allow a certain amount of water through the meter before closing. Consumers can track usage, load credit remotely and decrease the possibility of bill shock due to leakages or incorrect monitoring.

According to Leon Vermaak, MD of UMS, also a Sebata Water Technologies company: ‘Municipalities find themselves in a compromised position, because they can’t know with accuracy how much water is going where. Balancing is inaccurate and revenue is lost without explanation. Failure to implement appropriate metering and billing systems contributes to a worsening crisis.’

What’s possible?
There are solutions to the water crisis. As a start, municipalities need to be able to collect revenue efficiently, to enhance profitability and deliver services. Forward-thinking municipalities are already implementing smart metering, which drastically reduces government’s administration costs. This is because they don’t need to chase bad debts or budget for legal fees on unpaid accounts. Public-sector cash flow is immediately improved when municipalities are paid upfront for water.

A prepaid water meter can be used to limit water flowing to a particular area. This helps authorities and property owners control the amount of water used at certain outputs and prevents wastage in low-income households that can’t afford to pay for excess use of this basic need. They can make payments in smaller, frequent increments. This prevents their falling into debt, which can compound in a post-paid arrangement.

Collecting data from prepaid meters is more efficient than the manual collection required for post-paid meters. A radio link receiver can be fixed, vehicle-mounted or carried by municipality personnel. Data is transmitted to the receiver as soon as it’s within signal of the meter, so meter readers don’t need to enter the property. They can walk or drive by a prepaid meter to read it.

Prepaid systems are cost-effective solutions to sustainable water management in that they are not expensive and, by curbing water usage, capital recovery is possible within months. The systems are also able to distribute water equally, based on free water quotas, water balancing and fluctuating demand. Yet because of the diversity of South Africa’s socio-economic and natural environment, warns Vermaak, we must not think there is a single solution to all consumers’ needs.

Diverse solutions
Utility Systems, Amanzi Meters, UMS and Sebata Municipal Solutions are proud subsidiaries of Sebata Water Technologies, Software Solutions and Consultancy Services, which is part of the Sebata Holdings family.

Utility Systems
Smart water management
Utility Systems’ smart water-management devices (WMDs) connect to most pulse-output water meters to convert analogue units into smart devices. They offer flow limitation, prepaid water metering and bulk water management.

Automated meter reading
This technology enables the automatic collection of data – including basic diagnostic, consumption and status information – from a smart water meter and dispatched to the water authority, to facilitate accurate billing and water balancing across zones.

Advanced metering infrastructure
Bi-directional communication from the smart WMD to the utility, in near real-time, assists with early leak detection, minimises wastage, facilitates accurate billing and allows human resources to be assigned to operational or management tasks.

Amanzi Meters
Water meters
The designers of these state-of-the-art, locally produced water meters have combined a high-precision measuring insert with a high-quality, robust meter body.

Ball valves
These manually operated quarter-turn valves are used for isolating (on/off), not for regulating, via a flow-controlling spherical ball located in the valve body.

Meter boxes
These offer multiple solutions for housing and weather-proofing metering systems.

UMS
Meter audit
The firm conducts physical inspections and assessments of water meters and installations to establish functional condition for serviceability.

Spacial data management and verification
Its geo-spatial and workflow-management solutions are able to verify stand data, services and consumer information.

Meter reading and exception management
UMS carries out the physical reading of all electricity and water meters monthly and compiles exception reports based on field data recordings.

Water-flow restriction devices
These custom-designed devices restrict water flow for all water-dispensing units, as a mechanism for credit control and flow limitation for indigent households.

Sebata Municipal Solutions
Data cleansing
Using a third-party service provider, Sebata Municipal Solutions verifies and completes missing data and metadata from the municipality’s billing database.

Debtors book analysis
Clean data from the data-cleansing team is fed into financial systems (FMS and EMS), to allow municipalities to carry out live reporting and billing.

66 Park Lane, Sandton, 2196
+27 (0)11 218 8080
www.sebata.co.za

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