Donuts & Development - Meet & Greet at Blend Seychelles
The global Covid-19 pandemic has introduced a new normal to our little islands, so naturally, in the spirit of community and with all the health and safety of all our members as a top priority, Blend Seychelles is also jumping on the development bandwagon.
With the goal of giving current and future clients, as well as third parties a little taste of the networking, community and development opportunities they could experience at blend, the meet and greet of Saturday 4th July was a milestone moment not just for us, but for the up and coming coworking community in Seychelles.
Being a very new concept on our islands, we wanted to host an event where individuals and companies in different sectors could see the first co-working space in Seychelles and interact with one another with the aim of sharing knowledge and witnessing just a snippet of the benefits of working in a shared environment, ie co-working.
Did we mention we had donuts for lunch?
Hosted in our Aldabra lounge area (the main common room available to our members at Blend), much of the conversation was centered around sharing upcoming projects in the various sectors and discussing the potential for solutions that will benefit the islands.
The presentations
Alongside the chance to network and have insightful conversations, the highlight of the event was the presentations by representatives of various sectors.
A representative from the Research and Development sector presented the brainstorming going on in relation to opportunities for development in the area of artificial intelligence, robotics and the digital product market in Seychelles.
They also projected the need to encourage the expansion of the conservation sciences, by possibly creating a green Erasmus program which would allow students and researchers from all over the world to create a modern conservation R&D center here.
The Civic and Political sectors shared the questions they’re currently asking about the possibility of innovation, in particular on access to the law, and the enforceability of rights in the face of restrictive measures, when it comes to activism and challenging the public sector.
Moreover, the representative from the Energy sector presented how they are currently evaluating the avenues for going off the grid on the islands: pragmatism or surrealism seems to be the potent debate of the day.
On a similar route, looking at more sustainable ways of living, the Agriculture and Fisheries sector are currently deliberating the potential for vertical agriculture and how the islands could maximise food production in a limited environmental landscape.
Quite interestingly, and very much a part of the questions of the current climate, was the presentation given by the Tourism sector. With the crash of the tourist industry following the lockdowns, we will now have to find a way to reinvigorate the international desire to visit the Seychelles.
We have to ask ourselves what sort of future we want tourism to have on the islands. The movement is of course towards ecotourism but what is to become of luxury travel in the Seychelles? Is there a market for introducing the backpacking culture, similar to that which is existent in places like Europe and SouthEast Asia?
The future of tourism at this point is a blank slate and although there has evidently been much loss, there is a potential to rebounce in ways which previously might have been unforeseen.
We hope to be able to host more events such as this in the future and to bring more opportunities for growth and connection to the community. Will we be seeing you at the next event?
