Mauritius Finance Undertakes Roadshow on African Continent
From 7 to 11 September 2026, Mauritius Finance CEO Faraz Rojid led a delegation of financial services companies on a roadshow to the African continent in order to promote the Mauritius International Financial Center (#IFC). On the itinerary were two of the largest and most dynamic economies in Africa, namely, Egypt and Nigeria.
The objective of the roadshow was to showcase the Mauritius jurisdiction as a platform for asset management, wealth planning, and cross-border business. The promotional campaign follows increased interest in the Mauritius IFC as a consequence of the protracted conflict in the Middle East, pushing high-net-worth individuals (#HNWI) and private capital to seek safer havens. This campaign comes after a similar one conducted by the Economic Development Board of Mauritius around West Africa in May 2026.
Mauritius Finance reiterated not only the traditional advantages of tax efficiency, compliance robustness, and regulation maturity, but also highlighted that wealth management, estate planning and virtual assets are emerging as highly valued services. Besides asset management companies, pension funds and institutional investors, more trusts, foundations, and family offices are setting up shop in the Mauritius jurisdiction.
In the case of the most populated country in Africa, Mauritius has mediated USD 7.4 billion of bidirectional investment flows. Thus, Nigeria received USD 3.4 billion via the Mauritius IFC, while Nigeria routed USD 4 billion via Mauritius to other African countries and international markets. Since 2012, Nigeria and Mauritius have signed a Double Taxation Avoidance Treaty (#DTAT), but the ratification is still pending. Therefore, finance practitioners look forward to the treaty becoming effective in the near future to realize its full potential.
According to its Central Bank, Mauritius accumulates USD 757 billion of assets held by Global Business Companies (GBC) and has USD 80 billion of assets under management (AUM). For 1H25, Mauritius saw nearly USD 4 billion of investments — FPI + #FDI — transiting through its banks into the African continent.
For the financial year (FY) ending on 30 June 2026, the Mauritius IFC has 13,876 active Global Business Companies (GBC), of which 1,339 were new registrations during FY 2025-2026. Nearly 50% of these GBC do business in Africa, while 31% do business with India, underscoring the vigorous financial gateway function of Mauritius. The figures and trends appear to correlate closely with the ascendancy and vitality of Africa and India.