Marie-May Jeremie

SeyCCAT Chief Executive Officer

Marie-May Jeremie (Muzungaile) is the Chief Executive Officer of SeyCCAT. Marie-May holds a Masters of Environment Degree from the University of Melbourne and an undergraduate degree in Biological sciences from Edith Cowan University.

She is a trained Conservation Biologist who has been actively involved in national biodiversity conservation and environmental management, development of environmental policies and legislation. Over the past 10 years, She has been active in conservation works both at governmental and non-governmental organisation platforms in the Seychelles and beyond. She has served on many Boards in the environment, conservation and resource management sectors. Before joining SeyCCAT, Marie-May served as the Director General for Biodiversity Conservation and Management Division where she focused on the establishment and implementation of all biodiversity related policies and legislation. She has played an instrumental role as policy lead for ocean governance including the work on the Seychelles Marine Spatial Plan.

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Vania Robert

SeyCCAT Finance and Human Resources Manager

Vania Robert is the Finance and Human Resources Manager for Seychelles Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust (SeyCCAT). Vania is responsible for the financial management of SeyCCAT’s administration and grants and supports the SeyCCAT CEO, Board of Directors, Finance and Grants committee to run a high quality and efficient, functional and transparent service-oriented organisation.  Vania’s role also sees her providing support to the MSP team with administrative, process, and technical support and assistance to deliver stakeholder engagement and process management.

Prior to this position, Vania spent 17 years working with the tourism industry.  She has 13 years of experience at management level, in roles such as Assistant Financial Controller and Head of Finance. She has represented companies both locally and internationally.  Vania has wide experience in finance and administration, as well as payroll, budgeting and cashflow analysis.  Vania is also well versed with external and internal audits.

Vania has a Diploma in Business Studies from the Seychelles Polytechnic and a HND in Business and Finance from Brunei Darussalam Technical and Vocational Education Council.

Liam Weber

SeyCCAT Grants Manager

Liam Weber joined SeyCCAT as Grants Manager in September 2022.

He was born in Seychelles and is a dual citizen of Seychelles and South Africa. He has experience in project management, technical coordination, and working with international partners on implementation of large-scale projects in Seychelles. Liam has several years’ experience working for parastatal organisations in the aquaculture and fisheries industries.

Liam holds an Honours Degree in Marine Biology and a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Applied Biology and Marine Biology, both from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

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Helena Sims

MSP Project Manager

Ms Sims is the Project manager of the Seychelles Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) initiative. She is responsible for implementing and achieving the MSP initiative by overseeing and representing The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in relationships with Government agencies, NGO and corporate stakeholders and working closely with the MSP advisory committees. She serves as the secretary to the MSP Executive and Steering Committees and MSP Technical working groups. She assists in funding proposals, research grants and coordination with other projects. Helena is currently the only TNC staff working on the MSP that is based in the Seychelles.

Helena has work experience in Marine Conservation Biology and Project Management. Upon her return from University she has worked at the Seychelles Centre for Marine Research and Technology (the current Seychelles National Parks Authority), as a Project coordinator at the Green Islands Foundation NGO where her work focused on Integrated Coastal Zone Management and managing a 4 year GoS-UNDP-GEF Protected Areas Project at the Project Coordination Unit to identify strengthen the Protected Areas network of Seychelles through the identification of potential new areas for protection.

Helena has a BSc in Marine Biology Advanced from the James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.

Annike Faure

Coastal Wetlands and Climate Change Project Manager

Annike is the Coastal Wetlands and Climate Change Project Manager for SeyCCAT. She will manage and coordinate project activities, as well as the day-to-day project implementation and overall coordination of the various project’s outcomes under SeyCCAT’s portfolio. Annike’s role will also include communication materials for the Blue Carbon project, as well as assisting in preparation and review for materials related to Blue Carbon and NDC for marketing, philanthropy and government relations.

Annike has over five years of experience in environmental project management. Fresh from university, she started work as a Project Manager for the Programme Coordination Unit and later for the United Nations Development Programme. Her projects were on various ends of the spectrum from Capacity Building, to the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, Mercury Project under the Minamata Convention, Biodiversity Finance Initiative and Access and Benefit Sharing under the Nagoya Protocol.

Annike holds a BSc in Geography and Environment and a Masters’ in Environmental Management for Business.

Elke Talma

Projects Coordinator

Elke is the Projects Coordinator overseeing 2 projects that support the implementation of the marine protected areas, specifically to enabling the Seychelles Marine Spatial Plan and fisheries reforms funded by Ocean5 and The Nature Conservancy. She will manage and coordinate project activities, as well as the day-to-day project implementation and overall coordination of the various projects’ outcomes under SeyCCAT’s portfolio.

Elke has over ten years of experience in environmental project management and was recently employed as the Programme Coordinator of the GOS-UNDP-GEF Programme Coordination Unit, within the Ministry of Agriculture, Climate Change and Environment (MACCE), overseeing the implementation of multi-stakeholder donor funded projects. She has extensive knowledge in conservation and climate change issues in Seychelles, having worked in turtle conservation, habitat restoration, waste management, rainwater harvesting, climate change education & awareness, energy efficiency and energy conservation, good governance and renewable energy (photovoltaics). Through this work, she has engaged with diverse multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary teams in Government, private sector, civil society and international organisations.

Elke holds a BSc in Marine Biology from the University of Newcastle, UK and Postgraduate Certificate in Integrated Coastal Management from the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand.

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Michel Pierre

Blue Grants Coordinator

Michel Pierre has been seconded to SeyCCAT. He holds the position of Blue Grants Coordinator.

He was formerly employed with Citizens Engagement Platform Seychelles as the Chief Executive Officer. He was responsible for the overall leadership and management of the Secretariat according to the strategic direction set by the Board.

He has over ten years of experience working with the Civil Society sector in Seychelles focusing on capacity building of civil society organizations to effectively implement projects and programmes and engaged in advocacy, policy issues and resource mobilization.  He has excellent skills in project management which involve coordination, monitoring and effective evaluation.  He has managed various national projects aimed at empowering and building the capacity of NGOs in Seychelles and as a result, they have contributed meaningfully towards the development of the country.

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Thembekile Manjengwa

Monitoring and Evaluation Officer

Thembekile Manjengwa is responsible for Monitoring and Evaluation for SeyCCAT, in relation to its organizational mission and goals, the Blue Grants Fund and associated grants and projects.  She is a Development Expert with extensive experience in Monitoring and Evaluation and Project Management. She has more than 12 years of career experience in development programming relating to Agriculture, Natural Resources Management and Sustainable livelihoods involving Monitoring and Evaluation, Project Management, Program Design, Proposal and budget development, and Coordination with donor agencies, UN organizations, NGOs and Governments.

Thembie is a Certified Development Project Manager with a BSc in Natural Resources Management and Agriculture and Masters Development Management.

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Diana Renaud

Grants and Fundraising Assistant

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Minister Flavien Joubert

SeyCCAT Chair

Flavien P Joubert was born in 1972 and was educated in Seychelles up to secondary level. He successfully completed an HND and graduate studies at the Manchester Metropolitan University the United Kingdom and Masters studies at York University in Canada, During the time at the Department of Environment, he has collected various competencies especially in oil spill combat and operation of sewage treatment plants.

Since 1996, he has worked in the Ministry of Environment. He has held and served in several key posts including Director General for Wildlife Enforcement and Permits, CEO of the Seychelles National Parks Authority and CEO of the Landscape and Waste Management Authority. Mr Joubert has served on several boards such as the Planning Authority and Seychelles Petroleum as company Director and on Boards of national importance such as the Pesticide Control Board, Licensing Authority and Seychelles islands Foundation.

Through his university studies, he re-discovered one of the rarest bat species in the country, and has, throughout his time at the ministry promoted research and conservation on the bat species. He has co-written two papers on that subject. He has also played instrumental roles in several initiatives that have to do with chemical safety in Seychelles.

On the international arena, Minister Joubert has represented Seychelles in many fora related to chemicals and waste and was the focal points for the Basel, and Stockholm Conventions. He also led the organization of the Nairobi Convention 8^th conference of Parties meeting in 2015, for which UNEP congratulated Seychelles for the level of organization.

Mr Joubert was appointed Minister for Agriculture, Climate Change and Energy and on 4^th November 2020.

Minister Joubert is yet to marry and has two children.

Minister Naadir Hassan

SeyCCAT Vice-Chair

Minister Naadir Nigel Hamid Hassan was appointed Minister for Finance, Economic Planning and Trade on 3^rd November 2020.

He studied at the University of Manchester from 2001 to 2005 and holds a Bachelor’s degree with honours in International Business, Finance and Economics and from 2012 to 2013 at the University of Stirling and holds a Master’s degree in Banking and Finance.

Upon his graduation, Mr Hassan joined the Policy and Strategy Department at the Ministry of Finance as a Policy Analyst and thereafter got promoted to Senior Policy Analyst. After two years at Finance (2005 to 2007), he moved to the Central Bank of Seychelles (CBS) as a Public Debt Officer and shortly transferred to Financial Services Supervision as a Financial Services Analyst from 2007 to September 2009.  He rose through the ranks as a Senior Financial Services Analyst, Director and ultimately head of the department. After 14 years at CBS, in July 2020, he moved to Cable and Wireless Seychelles as Chief Digital and Risk Officer.

Mr Hassan was part of the Finance team that initiated discussions to start the process of joining the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and also trade agreements with the European Union.  He also initiated the process for significant liberalization of tariffs. He was on the CBS technical team working on the 2008 economic reform programme which was supported by International Monetary Fund (IMF).  Mr Hassan has also formed part of numerous High-Level committees at the Central Bank responsible for monetary policy and implementations, international reserves investments and management, risk management and human resources policy development.  He was the chairman of the Financial Sector Development Technical Committee at CBS and was Vice-Chairman of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) subcommittee on banking supervision.

During his leisure time, Mr Hassan enjoys fishing and his sporting passion is football.

Oliver Bastienne

SeyCCAT Treasurer and Chair of the SeyCCAT Finance Committee

Oliver is currently a Partner with ACM & Associates.  Until August 2017 (when EY stopped operations in Seychelles), he was also the Country Senior Manager  of EY Seychelles (formerly  known  as Ernst  and  Young Seychelles),the only Big Four Firm to have established itself in the Seychelles since 2011.The firm had a strategical alliance with ACM & Associates.

In total, Oliver manages a workforce of 25 employees, providing a myriad of service lines including Taxation, Advisory, Transactional and Assurance. Before coming back home, Oliver was working for EY London for 6years. Working in the private sector for all these years has enabled Oliver to appreciate that entrepreneurship is critical for innovation, business expansion and employment, particularly for young people. Through volunteering his time, he worked extremely closely with the Department of Youth and the Department of Entrepreneurship to kickstart the new generation of individuals who are ready to help their countries meet growth and employment challenges.  Oliver is presently the Chairman of the Seychelles Chamber of Commerce & Industry, where he works very closely with local businesses as well as the various Government Ministries and departments and all key players in the various industries.

Oliver has been educated in Seychelles, Singapore (from the age of 9–18years) and in the United Kingdom (BSc)(Hons) degree in Accounting & Finance, Loughborough University). These diverse experiences, cultures and skills captured have enabled him to ensure that his staff gets the right learning, experiences and coaching to accelerate their career development. Alongside the framework adopted by his firm, he ensures that these types of learning and experiences are designed and deployed to integrate their personal growth with the needs of their clients,Seychelles, and the business. The most important responsibility of Oliver is to provide leadership. The success of any organization starts at the top. Oliver leads by example exhibiting integrity, energy, enthusiasm, dedication, and commitment.

Adnan Awad

TNC representative

Adnan has a Masters in Conservation Biology and a PhD in Marine Biology from the University of Cape Town. He has over 20 years of experience working on issues of ocean conservation throughout Africa and the world. In recent years, he has been working on emerging challenges related to ocean governance, maritime biosecurity, protection of biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, and the development of marine spatial planning approaches to facilitate a balanced and sustainable blue economy. In May of 2020 he joined The Nature Conservancy as the Africa Oceans Strategy Director.

Amit Wasserberg

Chair of the BGF Committee

Founder and executive director of Silhouette Cruises Capt. Amit Wasserberg has spent 5 years in the Israeli Navy, serving in many missions, later on captained different vessels and yachts in the Mediterranean, Red sea, east Pacific ocean and many parts of the Indian Ocean.

Living in Seychelles for the past 27 years, Amit sailed most of the Seychelles waters and knows most islands intimately as well as other islands and coastal countries in the region from the east African coast to Chagos archipelago and Madagascar to the Maldives.

Amit has gained experience in many aspects of the maritime services from tourism-sailing-diving with thousands of happy tourists who spends their holiday onboard Silhouette Cruises vessels to commercial off-shore support work providing services to clients from the oil and gas industry, reputed universities and research institutes and government bodies.

We are committed to build upon this success and provide a high standard of service while operating in a responsible and sustainable manner in co-existence with the natural eco-systems we visit.

Dr Ameer Ebrahim

Secretary

Ameer Ebrahim is a marine ecologist with vast experience in fisheries management and ecology. He received his PhD in Marine Ecology mid last year at the University of Queensland, Australia. His research was focused on the ecological and functional roles of commercially important rabbitfish species in a marine environment. He is currently the Principal Fisheries Scientist at the Seychelles Fishing Authority. His role primarily involves developing, facilitating and coordinating scientific research programmes in Seychelles, and forming strong international ties within the sector. He is also the Chief Scientific Advisor to the James Michel Foundation (NGO), which aims to promote the Blue Economy concept, to sensitize people about climate change and its impacts on Seychelles and the world, to promote environmental protection and sustainable development, and to defend and promote the cause of small island developing states. Currently, he is also exploring Blue Carbon opportunities in Seychelles with a team of experts from Deakin University in Australia. The outcome of the project will provide important information to be incorporated into our countries National Determined Contribution (NDC). Dr. Ebrahim is also a published scientific author, with several scientific papers on his research conducted in Seychelles and Australia published in leading international journals.

Glenny Savy

Glenny Savy is a highly experienced Chief Executive who has demonstrated the ability to lead diverse teams of professionals to new levels of success in a variety of highly competitive domains and fast-paced environments.  He has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Politics from Murdoch University, Western Australia, 1979 -1982.

Glenny is the long-standing CEO for the Islands Development Company (IDC).  He has strong technical and business qualifications with an impressive track record of more than 35 years of hands-on experience in strategic planning, business unit development, project and product management.

Glenny provides us with a proven ability to successfully analyse organisational critical business requirements, as well as the ability to identify deficiencies and potential opportunities, and develop innovative and cost-effective solutions for enhancing competitiveness, increasing revenues, and improving customer service offerings.

Paul Morin

Paul is a Seychellois entrepreneur who has been involved in their family business after completing his International Baccalaureate Diploma in 1986. He completed his secondary education at the Seychelles College in 1983.

He has been the Managing director of the Morin Group of companies for the last twenty years, the family has been involved in a number of different businesses linked with our maritime resources. Namely in the trade of sharks fins, tuna fishery and sea cucumber. And their company has played a pivotal role in transforming our sea cucumber trade from an artisanal and low key sector to a vibrant and modern one. He has always been a firm believer in the vast potential of our countries maritime resources.

Paul has been the Chairperson of the Seychelles Sea cucumber Industry (AMSSI), since 2010, and holds the post till today. Being a firm believer in a reasonable approach in the sustainable exploitation of our maritime resources, he has displayed a sense of true leadership in getting members of the industry to appreciate the importance and taking ownership of their industry whilst gradually accepting the general principles of having a proper management model which balances between the need to exploit and protect the resources themselves. He currently sits on the sea cucumber Management Advisory Committee (MAC), the platform that advisers the management principals of the industry.

He has served on the executive committee of Fishermen & Boat Owners Association (FBOA) and now rebranded to Seychelles Fishermen & Boat Owners Association (SFBOA) in the role of Vice-Chairman, Secretary and Executive member since 2008. FBOA/SFBOA has been and remains the main body on the national platform, leading in the negotiations and playing an important role in harmonizing the national need of stakeholders of our Fishing Industry with the Seychelles Fishing Authority, the Government and other related partners.

He currently also sits on the Association of Fish Processors and Exporters (AFPES), as the association’s secretary.

Jean-Paul Adam

Mr. Jean Paul Adam is the Director for Climate Change, Environment and Sustainable Development at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

He is the former Minister for Health of the Republic of Seychelles. He has occupied the post since November 2016. Since taking on the role, he has emphasized the importance of Seychelles’ achievements in universal access to healthcare- and has further prioritized a focus on raising the quality of healthcare by benchmarking Seychelles’ against global standards.

Prior to this, he was the Minister of Finance, Trade and the Blue Economy. In this role he spearheaded numerous initiatives related to the blue economy dossier, notably the blue bonds initiative.  As the Finance and Trade Minister he promoted the concept of sustainable growth and investment through diversification strategies which include the move towards an inclusive blue economy. In this period, he was also the founding chairperson of SEYCCAT.

Between 2010 to 2015 Mr. Adam served as the Foreign Minister where his active involvement in the Blue Economy dossier started, including through mobilization of global support for the debt swap initiative and the creation of SeyCCAT.  In this role he also oversaw Seychelles’ active engagement on the international arena through advocacy on behalf of Small Island Developing States, taking the lead on sustainable development, in the fight against climate change as well as in the fight against piracy in the Indian Ocean.

As Foreign Minister he has chaired the Commonwealth Small States Ministerial Committee and has also been chair of the World Bank Small States Forum between 2015 and 2016 as Minister of Finance.

Mr. Adam has worked in the Office of the President in various high level positions; namely Secretary of State, Principal Secretary and Director General of Presidential Affairs. Before that, Minister Adam worked in the Foreign Ministry as a career diplomat.

Mr. Adam has a Degree in English Literature and French from the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom (UK). He also holds a Masters in International Political Economy, which he obtained at the Department of Government, International Politics and Philosophy at the University of Manchester, UK.

Between January 2006 to January 2009, Minister Adam engaged in the teaching profession as a part time lecturer with the Manchester University and Seychelles Polytechnic Twinning Programme where he taught International Politics.

Minister Jean- Paul Adam is married and father to two girls.

Didier Dogley

The Honourable Didier Dogley is the former Minister of Tourism of the Republic of Seychelles.

Didier Dogley was born in 1964 and was educated in Seychelles. He successfully completed his studies at the University of Applied Sciences Erfurt, in Germany and Reading University, United Kingdom. Later he obtained a Diploma in Management at the Seychelles Institute of Management, now University of Seychelles.

Since 1989 he has been working in the Ministry of Environment. He has held and served in several key posts including Director General for Nature Conservation and Principal Secretary of Environment.  Didier was chairperson of the National Planning Authority, Waste and Landscape management Agency and the National Parks Committee.  Furthermore he served on several boards of national importance such as the Seychelles Tourism Board, the Island Development Company.

He was the Founding Chairman of the Non-government Organisation called Plant Conservation Action Group; a botanical association, which seeks to promote the conservation and protection of the endemic and indigenous flora of Seychelles.

He played an instrumental role in implementing the Seychelles debt swap for conservation and climate adaptation and the development of the Seychelles Marine Spatial Plan initiative.

On the international arena he has represented Seychelles in many sustainable development, biodiversity and land degradation related negotiations and fora in particular the UNCBD, UNCCD and RIO+ 20.  He chaired the Nairobi Convention COP 8 meeting. 

PS Kenneth Racombo

Mr. Racombo is currently the Principal Secretary for the Department of Blue Economy. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Economic, a Masters in Strategic Management and another Masters in Diplomatic Studies. He started out as an economist and he later became the Director of Development and Regional integration at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from June 2011 till June 2012 and the Director General of the same department from June 2012 till September 2017. He was also the Head of Resource Mobilization and development at the SADC Regional Tourism Organization of Southern Africa from May 2017 till September 2017. From September 2017 until March 2018 he was the acting Chief Executive Officer of the SADC Regional Tourism Organization of Southern Africa.

Dr. Frauke Fleischer-Dogley

Dr Frauke Fleischer-Dogley is the Chief Executive Officer of the Seychelles Islands Foundation (SIF).  The foundation was established as a public trust in 1979 and manages and protects Seychelles’ UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Aldabra Atoll and the Vallée de Mai. Improving the management effectiveness of Seychelles’ World Heritage Sites is her mission. She believes in science-based management decisions, innovation, and rigorous review of established practices to advance conservation management. She has realised her dream to set foot on the largest raised coral atoll in the world and is determined that, as one of the World Heritage Sites most threatened due to climate change and sea level rise, Aldabra will be protected for future generations. One of her on-going goals is to ensure, through SIF’s work, that the marine treasures of Aldabra are comprehensively monitored to better understand and appreciate this relatively undisturbed marine ecosystem and enhance its prospects of survival.

Frauke is a trained conservation biologist. Her PhD research substantially advanced understanding of the population management of the coco de mer, Seychelles flagship species, and has been published in several scientific papers. She has over 15 years of experience in protected area management and has also worked in the fields of tourism planning, ecotourism and international cooperation with the Government of Seychelles.

In addition she has served on many national steering committees and is also a board member of the Seychelles National Parks Authority and the National Environment Advisory Council in addition to the SeyCCAT.

Dr Nirmal Shah

Dr. Nirmal Jivan Shah is a second-generation Seychellois environmentalist. He has a Bachelors degree in business, an MSc and PhD in biology and ecology. He has occupied senior environmental positions in the Parastatal, Government, private and NGO sectors as well as worked for international organisations such as the World Bank, IUCN ,Sida, and several UN agencies.

He is the Chief Executive of Nature Seychelles, a leading environmental non-profit organisation in the East African region. He is the President’s Special Envoy for Environment and Climate Change, Managing Director of ENVI.R.O, Chair of the Seychelles National Environment Advisory Council, and Board Member of local and international organisations, including the University of Seychelles, National Disaster Relief Foundation, Public Health Appeals Board. He is also the Honorary Consul for Mauritius in Seychelles.

He has designed and led implementation of internationally acclaimed, world class projects that have rescued several bird species from extinction, including the once Critically Endangered Seychelles Magpie Robin and Seychelles Scops Owl being down listed on the IUCN Red List in 2005, the Seychelles Fody being removed from BirdLife International’s Threatened Birds of the World listing in 2006 and the (once Critically Endangered) Seychelles Warbler removed from this list by 2016. This work has inspired similar projects by other organisations. He has developed and coordinated partnerships for the rescue of the Seychelles Flycatcher, the only critically endangered bird left in Seychelles, and for research of the Critically Endangered Seychelles Sheath-tailed Bat and on the Seychelles Sooglosid Frogs.

He is currently leading the management of a climate change adaptation coral reef restoration project, the world’s largest using the “reef gardening” method. His multi-disciplinary and cross cutting work has extended in the East African Region, notably being founding member and recent outgoing President of the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association (WIOMSA).