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Governance at Crossroads - Navigating Global Standards, Local Reality and Future-Ready Leadership
Insights from the
Mauritius Institute of Directors (MIoD)
Corporate governance today is at a decisive point. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the global business ecosystem was marked by landmark developments such as the UK's Cadbury Report and, later, the first OECD Principles of Corporate Governance, where the focus was predominantly on-board structures, fiduciary duties and financial transparency. Since then, conversations around corporate governance began gaining real traction. It was an era when governance frameworks were largely domestic, accountability was measured through periodic financial statements, and global interdependence had not yet reshaped how businesses operated.
Today, the context is fundamentally different. Boards now operate in an environment where capital, data, regulations and public expectations move across borders faster than governance frameworks were designed to handle. Directors are expected to interpret global standards, respond to national priorities and manage organisation-specific realities, all within a single oversight mandate.
Technology has become a powerful force reshaping this environment, and the saying “we don't know what we don't know” feels particularly apt. In a short period, organisations have moved from basic digital tools to integrated, datadriven systems powered by automation and artificial intelligence (AI). Decision-making that was once linear is now adaptive, influencing strategy, operations and risk simultaneously. In Mauritius, the Digital Transformation Blueprint 2025–2029 and the National AI Strategy reflect a clear ambition to embed digital capabilities into the next phase of economic development. AI is increasingly positioned as a lever for productivity, service modernisation and innovation, supported by recent budget measures and regulatory updates. For directors, this shift sharpens responsibility: to interrogate digital strategies, ensure ethical and responsible data and AI governance, and test whether technology investments genuinely support long-term value and trust.
Recognising these shifts, the Mauritius Institute of Directors (MIoD) has focused on translating complex technology and AI questions into practical guidance for boards. In 2025, the MIoD, through its Audit Committee Forum in collaboration with KPMG Mauritius, released Position Paper No. 12, “Ethical Considerations around Data Management”, examining how audit committees should approach data governance, integrity and oversight in an era increasingly shaped by automation and artificial intelligence. This was complemented by the Directors Forum, an advocacy forum in collaboration with PwC Mauritius, which issued Publication No. 10, “Artificial Intelligence Promotion and Governance”, offering directors a structured lens on AI adoption, risk, compliance and organisational accountability. These initiatives were further strengthened by international exposure through a U.S. Speaker Programme organised with the U.S. Embassy in Mauritius, during which Ernie Fernandez, former Vice-President at Microsoft, engaged Mauritian leaders on navigating disruption, innovation agility and future-ready organisations.
The 2024 Survey on Directors' Fees and Board Composition in Mauritius, conducted by the MIoD and Korn Ferry, shows incremental progress: women now represent 15% of board members (up from 13% in 2021), while boards chaired by women have increased to 9% (from 6%).
At the same time, climate considerations are shaping board agendas just as decisively. For a Small Island Developing State (SIDS) like Mauritius - a highly open economy with increasing exposure to climate and market shifts - the effects of climate change are visible beyond policy discourse. The hospitality and tourism sector, contributing around 9% of GDP directly and significantly more through indirect and induced effects, depends heavily on healthy coastlines. Yet coastal erosion, reef degradation and pressure on marine ecosystems reinforce that climate resilience is a present economic and strategic priority.
Global sustainability and climate standards are also reshaping boardroom expectations. The anticipated introduction of IFRS S1 and S2 [new global sustainability disclosure standards introduced by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB)] in Mauritius is expected to create a de facto global baseline for sustainability- and climate-related disclosures. Even though these frameworks are not yet mandatory, investors and development partners increasingly rely on these frameworks to assess credibility, resilience and long-term value. Mauritius' updated commitments under Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) 3.0 - including a 40% reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions compared with business-as-usual and a target of 60% share of renewable energy in the electricity mix by 2035 - carry direct implications for capital allocation, operational decisions and risk oversight.
This is where ecosystem initiatives play a critical role. The Climate Governance Initiative Mauritius (CGI Mauritius), an advocacy forum of the MIoD in collaboration with its Founder HSBC Mauritius and a local Chapter of the World Economic Forum's Climate Governance Initiative, was established to strengthen board-level climate competence. In November 2025, CGI Mauritius launched the accredited Climate Governance Pathway, reinforced through a formalised agreement with the UK Government's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), supported by the British High Commission in Mauritius, to support boards in translating global climate expectations and national NDC priorities into credible governance and disclosure practices.
Expectations around diversity, equity and inclusion have also evolved. The 2024 Survey on Directors' Fees and Board Composition in Mauritius, conducted by the MIoD and Korn Ferry, shows incremental progress: women now represent 15% of board members (up from 13% in 2021), while boards chaired by women have increased to 9% (from 6%). Yet these numbers remain well below benchmarks in many jurisdictions, underlining the need to broaden the leadership pipeline and strengthen pathways for emerging talent. Within this context, the Women Leadership Academy (WLA), a flagship initiative of the MIoD's Women Directors Forum delivered with Dale Carnegie Mauritius, has equipped over 300 women in Mauritius and in Kenya with leadership and boardreadiness capabilities since 2021, reinforcing the link between inclusion, decision quality and organisational culture.
Workforce transformation adds another defining layer to the governance agenda. The World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025 indicates that 39% of core skills are expected to change by 2030, with rising demand for competencies linked to AI, data, green transition and complex problem-solving. These insights resonate with what we observe across in Mauritius: organisations are under pressure to modernise, yet at the same time, the country is also dealing with structural pressures on its labour market, where ageing demographics, skills mismatches and concerns around brain drain persist. Human capital has therefore become a core governance issue, encompassing talent pipelines, reskilling and succession.
The risk landscape in which these shifts unfold is increasingly complex. Economic volatility, geopolitical uncertainty, cyber threats and climate-related risks intersect in ways that challenge traditional governance tools. At the level of the MIoD, the Risk Governance Forum, an advocacy forum in collaboration with EY Mauritius, has devoted recent work to themes such as navigating commercial uncertainties, risk governance in the age of emerging technologies and embedding climate risk into enterprise risk management, bringing together risk leaders and board members to challenge how risks are framed and escalated. This mirrors a global shift in which risk governance is becoming more forwardlooking, data-driven and integrated into strategic decisionmaking.
For Mauritius, and for similar interconnected economies, this convergence presents both exposure and opportunity. Exposure, because external shocks, climate risks and talent constraints can influence organisational resilience. Opportunity, because strong governance aligned with global expectations and grounded in national realities can position organisations and the jurisdiction as credible, trusted partners in regional and international markets. Boards that lead effectively in such an environment are those that treat technology, sustainability, human capital and risk as strategic levers, rather than parallel agendas, and invest in the competencies required to steward organisations through complexity.
Ultimately, governance at the crossroads is about leadership. For Mauritius, as an International Financial Centre, where economic opportunity is closely linked to international confidence and regulatory alignment, directors who combine strategic discipline and foresight with an outward-looking perspective will reinforce the resilience of their organisations and strengthen the country's credibility in regional and global markets in an era in which global standards, local realities and futureready leadership are inseparable.
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Ms. Sheila Ujoodha
Chief Executive Officer - Mauritius Institute of Directors (MIoD)
Owned by: Institute of Directors, India
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the articles/ stories are the personal opinions of the author. IOD/ Editor is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in those articles. The information, facts or opinions expressed in the articles/ speeches do not reflect the views of IOD/ Editor and IOD/ Editor does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
