During my career, three defining moments illustrate my entrepreneurial leadership qualities. I led the e-learning initiative since 2009. The challenge was sustainability, given the disbelief of the academic community. We received the COL Excellence Awards in Distance Education in 2010. During Covid-19, we ensured the continuity of educational services through a resilient teaching and learning system, and in 2023, the university adopted blended and hybrid learning as mainstream educational delivery modes.
In Nov 2012 I established the NGO “Helping our People” with colleagues. Our objective was alleviation of poverty in Mauritius. We focused on four pillars: education, food, clothes, medical aid to vulnerable groups. To sustain the organization, we adopted a social entrepreneurship model relying on (i) youth empowerment [our students]; (ii) educator capacity-building educators as a service [to stakeholders like Microsoft], and (iii) consultancy services [benevolent inputs from our core members]. Within a 10-year period, the NGO trained 300+ educators, helped 150+ direct help beneficiaries, and witnessed a gross turn-over of approx. Euros 200K without recourse to public funds.
The third defining moment relates to impactful initiatives I led as Pro VC at the University from 2017 to 2022 namely: Internationalisation, Consultancy, University Ranking, Incubator activities, and University-Industry Engagement. The University was ranked in THE World University rankings in 2022; The overall project value (+30M MUR)from consultancies was at par and/or more than prior to the pre-covid period; more than 1M euros of industry-related revenue (2017-22) and the industry established its presence for the first time on campus through three high-tech labs.

Urmila Rajkumarsingh
Administrative Manager
University of Mauritius



Rita Parthyneviko
Administrative Manager
University of Mauritius



Navin Ramjing
Officer in Charge, Consultancy and Contract Research
University of Mauritius



Dr Oomesh Gukhool
Senior Lecturer / Incubator Committee Chairperson
University of Mauritius



Prof Santally Mohammad Issack
Pro Vice-Chancellor
University of Mauritius



Shailen Gungah
Director Human Resources
University of Mauritius

Special thanks to Caroline Koa Wing, our former liaison person from Microsoft (Mauritius) who supported the NGO in its early days of operation. Special thanks to the members/volunteers of the NGO who provided me with unflinching support since 2012. Special thanks here as well to Ronda, and Esther (we're keeping the organization name private for business reasons), our two colleagues who have trusted our work and recommended/retained our NGO for international services.

Thank you to Professor Jhurry, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mauritius who coined the vision of a research-engaged and entrepreneurial University.

Thank you to the current Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sobhee, for his trust, leadership, and continuous support to pursue the mission and objectives towards realizing the vision of a research-engaged and entrepreneurial university.