Spirit of Enterprise (SOE) continues its efforts in promoting entrepreneurism among our younger generation. SOE plans to obtain the assistance of about 120 university students. Each student will interview one or more entrepreneurs whom they have identified and screened as per the set of criteria established by the SOE.

Who are we?
Spirit of Enterprise was setup in September 2005 as a non-profit organisation which is dedicated to the promotion of entrepreneurship amount the young generation. It is based on the Singaporean Spirit of Enterprise and was brought to Mauritius by Mr. Maurice Lam.  Spirit of Enterprise has as motto: to honour and inspire.  It achieves this goal by finding out entrepreneurs who have an inspiring story to tell.  This is done with the help of University Student volunteers who conduct the interviews of those entrepreneurs who inspire them most.  Each year the board directors of SOE, selects a group of entrepreneurs out of those interviewed.  Those nominees are called for an award ceremony which rewards the best among them for their courage and contribution to our daily lives no matter how humble their business is.

How many entrepreneurs Spirit of Enterprise honours each year?
Spirit of Enterprise believes that the progress of a country depends greatly on its entrepreneurs.  Consequently each year we select a number of entrepreneurs which is equal to the number of years our nation has.  For the 2007 SOE Award Ceremony, we will need 39 entrepreneurs as our nation will be 39 years old.

Why participate?
We need some 120 interviews of entrepreneurs to be able to select 39 nominees for the 2007 Spirit of Enterprise Award Ceremony. We believe students, who will soon contribute actively to the economy of the country, will benefit greatly from the interactions with entrepreneurs both on a personal skills development perspective and also we hope this will encourage the students to set up their own businesses. We believes that the of the economy of our country may well be in the hands of future entrepreneurs.

What do you get in return?
Spirit of Enterprise is a non profit organisation, which is funded by the generous contributions of our sponsors. Every interview which is duly reported and submitted will be rewarded with a stipend of Rs. 200 to cover up your travel and any of out of pocket expenses and a certificate of participation will also be presented. Those whose entrepreneurs have been nominated will be invited to attend the award ceremony, which is usually held in a prestigious location. The best student interviewer; one from the University of Mauritius and the other from the University of Technology, Mauritius, will be awarded a special price.

Who can participate?
Practically any student from the University of Mauritius and the University of Technology, Mauritius.

How to participate?
Basically you have to select an entrepreneur, arrange a meeting for an interview with him/her. Based on the interview, you write up a small report of about 700 to 2000 words. Once the content of the report is validated by the entrepreneur and the authorisation form is duly signed by both you and the entrepreneur, these documents are submitted to the contact person(s) of your institution.

Whom to contact?
If you are from the University of Mauritius you can contact Ms. Naikasha Punchu or Mr. Hadi Seidally and Ms. Kristy Chan or Mr. Cedric Angeline if you are from the University of Technology, Mauritius. They are the coordinators for the respective Universities.

How to select your entrepreneur?
You can choose any entrepreneur you are willing to honour and also who has an inspiring story to tell. Basically the entrepreneur you select must:

1. have been in business for at least two years and it is evident that the business is sustaining the entrepreneur,
2. not have been honoured by a similar organisation,
3. have a small or medium scale business,
4. have a legal and duly registered business, and
5. not be under prosecution by the police, tax or customs department.

The entrepreneur can be anyone from a humble barber to a person involved in high tech industry.

How to go about the interview?
We are not too demanding on a specific format. However, there need to be a means of selecting the nominees for the award.

Kindly download the information pack which contains a guideline, set of interview questions and relevant forms.

Who selects the nominees and honourees?
The board of directors of the Spirit of Enterprise will select the nominees and honoureesout of the interviews written by the students.

When will the award ceremony be held?
The award ceremony will be held on Saturday the 17th March 2007.  The ceremony is usually held in a prestigious hotel.  In 2005 the ceremony was held at The Hilton Mauritius Resort in April.

What the honourees get?
The honourees, get a shield to symbolise their achievements and are publicly rewarded. Their stories are published in a yearly book which is donated to secondary schools and Universities and which is sold in local libraries.

Further Inquiries ?
If you have any specific inquiry kindly contact Preetam (preetam at stewardship-technologies dot com).