Starting an Innovative Business in Mauritius: The 2025 Start-Up and Innovation Schemes

Mauritius now has a dedicated legal framework for innovative start-ups – something that didn’t exist before August 2025. Under the Finance Act 2025, there’s no minimum capital requirement, no turnover milestones in the first instance. Submit an innovative project to the EDB or register with an accredited incubator, and you can get a 10-year occupation permit.

Alongside this, the Act introduces four new EDB schemes – Innovative Mauritius, Heritage Stewardship, Land Repurposing, and Waste to Wealth – plus a tax deduction for AI investment. The signal is deliberate: Mauritius wants innovation-driven businesses, not just financial structuring. Whether the execution matches the ambition remains to be seen, but the legal framework is now in place.

Here’s what’s available and how it works.

The innovative start-up occupation permit

Under the revised First Schedule of the Economic Development Board Act, there’s now a dedicated occupation permit category for investors in innovative start-ups. The criteria:

• Route 1: Submit an innovative project to the Economic Development Board; or
• Route 2: Register with an incubator accredited by the Mauritius Research and Innovation Council

That’s it for the initial application. No minimum investment amount. No bank statement showing USD 50,000 or USD 100,000 in funds. No turnover milestones for the first period.

For renewal, the conditions are at the discretion of the Chief Executive Officer of the EDB. This means you’ll need to demonstrate progress – that your start-up is actually building something – but the exact renewal criteria aren’t fixed in statute. This gives the EDB flexibility to assess start-ups on their merits rather than against rigid financial benchmarks.

The permit is valid for 10 years, same as the standard investor occupation permit.

What counts as “innovative”?

The Finance Act 2025 doesn’t define “innovative project” – that determination is left to the EDB. In practice, expect the EDB to look for technology-enabled businesses, novel business models, or solutions addressing underserved markets. If you’re building a SaaS product, a fintech platform, a biotech venture, or an AI-driven service, you’re likely in scope. If you’re opening a restaurant or a consulting practice, the standard investor or self-employed permit is your route.

The four new EDB schemes

The Finance Act 2025 (Section 13) adds four new schemes to the Second Schedule of the Economic Development Board Act. Each scheme will have detailed criteria set out in regulations or EDB guidelines, but the statutory framework is now in place:

Innovative Mauritius Scheme

Issues an “Innovative Mauritius Certificate” to qualifying businesses. The full criteria will be prescribed or specified in EDB guidelines. Expect this to complement the innovative start-up occupation permit by providing a formal certification that unlocks additional benefits – potentially including preferential tax treatment, access to funding, or simplified regulatory processes.

Heritage Stewardship Scheme

Issues a “Heritage Stewardship Certificate” for projects focused on heritage preservation. Mauritius has a rich architectural and cultural heritage – from colonial-era buildings to sugar estate infrastructure – and much of it is deteriorating. This scheme creates a formal framework for businesses or investors who want to restore, repurpose, or maintain heritage assets.

For investors interested in real estate with a heritage angle, this could create opportunities in areas like boutique hotel conversions, heritage tourism, or adaptive reuse of historic buildings. See the property buying guide for the broader real estate framework.

Land Repurposing Scheme

Issues a “Land Repurposing Certificate” for land redevelopment projects. Mauritius has notable tracts of former agricultural land (particularly former sugar estates) that could be repurposed for commercial, residential, or mixed-use development. The Land Repurposing Scheme provides a formal framework for such projects.

Waste to Wealth Scheme

Issues a “Waste to Wealth Certificate” for businesses that convert waste into resources. Mauritius faces growing waste management challenges – limited landfill capacity, rising consumption, and the environmental pressure of being a small island. Businesses that address waste recycling, upcycling, energy-from-waste, or circular economy models would qualify.

AI investment tax deduction

The Finance Act 2025 adds Section 67T to the Income Tax Act – a new deduction specifically for Artificial Intelligence technologies. The provision:

• Who qualifies: Companies with annual turnover not exceeding Rs 100 million (~GBP 1.7 million)
• What’s deductible: Capital expenditure on AI technologies
• How it works: The company can claim a deduction from gross income for the AI expenditure, in addition to the standard annual allowance under Section 24 of the Income Tax Act

This is effectively a double deduction – you get the normal capital allowance plus an additional deduction for the same expenditure. For a start-up investing in AI tools, cloud computing infrastructure, machine learning models, or AI-related hardware, this materially reduces the tax burden on that investment.

The specific definition of “AI technologies” will be set by regulation, so check the MRA’s guidance for what qualifies. For more on the broader tax changes in the Finance Act 2025, see the dedicated article.

Research laboratory incentive

The Finance Act 2025 also adds a provision to Section 14A(3) of the Economic Development Board Act, allowing investment proposals involving the setting up of research laboratories to qualify for EDB facilitation. This is a smaller provision but relevant for biotech, pharmaceutical, or materials science start-ups that need lab infrastructure.

How these pieces fit together

For a tech entrepreneur or innovator considering Mauritius, the Finance Act 2025 creates a layered incentive structure:

None of these individually make Mauritius a start-up hub overnight. But taken together, they represent a coherent effort to attract innovation-driven businesses with a combination of residency certainty, tax efficiency, and formal recognition schemes.

The practical reality

A few caveats:

• The ecosystem is nascent. Mauritius doesn’t have the venture capital depth, talent pool, or tech infrastructure of Singapore, Dubai, or even Nairobi. If you need a large engineering team or Series A funding, those won’t be easy to find locally
• Incubator quality varies. The requirement to register with an incubator accredited by the Mauritius Research and Innovation Council is only as good as the incubators themselves. Check which incubators are accredited and what support they actually provide
• Renewal is discretionary. The lack of fixed renewal criteria for the innovative start-up permit is a double-edged sword – flexibility for the EDB, uncertainty for you
• Scheme details are pending. The four new EDB schemes exist in statute but the operational criteria are yet to be published. Don’t count on benefits that haven’t been finalised

For the operational basics of setting up a company, the business and investment overview, or what the job market looks like, follow the links.

Disclaimer: This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or business advice. The EDB schemes and AI tax deduction are subject to further regulation and guidelines not yet published at the time of writing. Always verify the latest requirements through the Economic Development Board. Information current as of August 2025.