Turbine is welcoming ten Mauritian start-ups into its incubation programme, eight of which come from the Innovation Challenge held in 2025. This new stage in their journey will enable founders to consolidate their projects, whether to bring a product or service to market, or to refine their commercial offering. These young ventures will now benefit from structured and intensive support over several months, with the aim of validating their business models and accelerating their development. 

Incubation is a key stage in Turbine’s support pathway. Through a programme tailored to each entrepreneur, Turbine provides expertise, resources and access to its network to support the maturation of solutions, the refinement of strategy and preparation for scaling up. 

Among the ten start-ups joining the incubation programme, several come from the Innovation Challenge, Turbine’s flagship programme dedicated to the emergence of innovative solutions addressing economic, social and environmental challenges. Their entry into incubation continues the journey offered by Turbine, providing a supportive framework to transform promising ideas into viable and sustainable businesses.  

“Through this new incubation cycle, Turbine reaffirms its role as a catalyst within the Mauritian entrepreneurial ecosystem. By supporting these start-ups over time, the incubator aims to foster the emergence of strong, locally grounded projects capable of creating value, jobs and contributing positively to the country’s economic development,” shares Diane Maigrot, Managing Director of Turbine. 

Interview with Diane Maigrot, Managing Director of Turbine 

How would you define today the role of an experienced incubator like Turbine, beyond technical support, in an entrepreneur’s journey? 

Today, the role of our incubator goes far beyond simple technical support. Turbine acts as a real lever for entrepreneurs to validate that their solution addresses a genuine market need and has economic potential that justifies the required investment. We support founders in structuring their businesses by helping them adopt good practices from the outset, notably with the support of partners such as ENS (Africa) Mauritius. We also enable them to acquire essential business management skills through our Turbine Elevate workshops, helping them build strong and sustainable foundations for growth. 

How does Turbine adapt its incubation programmes to evolving markets, entrepreneurs’ expectations and economic, social and environmental challenges? 

Turbine is at the forefront of capturing market trends and innovation dynamics. As an incubator, we continuously adapt our programmes based on the profiles of the entrepreneurs we support and the challenges they face. Deeply rooted in the local ecosystem, we favour a human-centred approach built around interactive workshops and networking sessions that encourage the exchange of ideas, contacts and opportunities. 

Entrepreneurs are often the first to identify emerging challenges and imagine practical solutions. Today, the majority of those embarking on entrepreneurship do so with the intention of addressing societal, environmental and economic issues. Turbine strives to provide a framework that enables this ambition to be transformed into viable, impactful projects. 

With ten years’ hindsight, what do you think makes the difference between a start-up that survives and one that lasts? 

Financial management must be a company’s number one priority: you need to ensure you always have enough cash to keep the business running. From the outset, it is therefore essential to put in place dashboards to monitor financial and operational performance. 

Beyond the numbers, the sustainability of a start-up also largely depends on the entrepreneur leading it. They must demonstrate leadership qualities that make the difference and enable the business to achieve exceptional levels of performance. 

Among these qualities, three stand out: determination, charisma and direction. These are essential to build trust, unite teams, make the right decisions and ensure long-term, sustainable performance. 

In your view, how should large companies evolve their perspective on start-ups and SMEs to foster real synergies and build innovative, sustainable solutions for the Mauritian economy? 

Large companies should view start-ups and SMEs as genuine levers for innovation and agility. They cannot develop everything internally and would benefit from partnering with entrepreneurs who create high value-added services and products. 

In this mindset, entrepreneurs should not be seen merely as service providers or product vendors, but as full strategic partners. This collaborative relationship improves overall performance, accelerates innovation and ultimately increases customer satisfaction, to the benefit of all parties involved. 

Start-up Profiles 

1. Patricia Gooden-Husbands & Charlene Van Zyl – Living Change

Winners of the Innovation Award, Innovation Challenge 2025 

“We are the founders of Living Change, and together we bring over forty years of experience supporting older adults, particularly around dementia and related behaviours. Over the years, we have worked closely with older people, their families and carers, and have seen how quality support can transform lives. 

Before launching this project, we trained over a hundred carers using an approach centred on dignity, respect for individuality and independence. As an occupational therapist, Charlene also developed the MWA project, aimed at giving older people a voice in their daily lives. These experiences highlighted both the scale of needs in Mauritius and the limits of one-off initiatives in the face of an ageing population and the alarming rise of dementia, as highlighted by the World Health Organization. 

Entrepreneurship became an obvious step to give this initiative a professional structure and sustainable impact. Our project aims to raise awareness among the public, businesses and institutions about dementia, while providing practical support to carers through specialised training. We seek to share our international expertise and collaborate with stakeholders across care and non-care sectors to promote a better national understanding of dementia. 

The impact we seek goes beyond care alone: improving quality of life for people living with dementia, preserving dignity and autonomy for as long as possible, supporting families and carers, easing pressure on health systems, and preparing Mauritian society for population ageing through more inclusive and compassionate communities. 

Turbine’s support has been instrumental in our transition into entrepreneurship. The programme helped us understand the complexity of the entrepreneur’s role and structure our project financially, strategically and operationally. Thanks to expert sessions, coaching and the entrepreneurial ecosystem, we have gained clarity, focus and coherence. Our objective at the end of incubation is to have a clear, credible and scalable project with measurable impact and a solid development trajectory.” 

2. YanLeclézio– Happynest 

Winner of the Rising Star Award and Power Pitch Award, Innovation Challenge 2025 

“I am an entrepreneur and father, with 30 years’ experience in construction. Trained as a cabinetmaker, I worked across various construction fields and saw first-hand the constraints of cost, timelines and environmental impact. This naturally led to Happynest. 

With Happynest, we develop small, multifunctional living spaces that are quick to build, affordable and sustainable, particularly suited to contexts where concrete is a constraint. Our aim is to reduce the environmental footprint of light housing while improving quality of life. 

Turbine’s incubation programme has helped structure the project, challenge our assumptions and ensure growth remains aligned with our ecological and human values. Thanks to their support, Happynest is now better positioned to demonstrate that alternative construction models are both viable and impactful.” 

3. Gabrielle Thévenau Waller & Toni Waller – Back to the Roots

“We co-founded Back to the Roots to produce local fermented drinks (fruit kefir and kombucha), crafted artisanally, low in sugar, additive-free and packaged sustainably. Our ambition is to offer a healthy, local and responsible alternative to industrial drinks. 

Joining Turbine’s incubation programme has helped us professionalise the project, structure our business model and clarify our growth strategy while staying true to our values. We now move forward with a clearer vision and stronger methodology to build a sustainable, impact-driven business in Mauritius.” 

4. Dhellan Kistamah – Terra Core Ltd

“I am an engineer and entrepreneur focused on environmental resilience. Terra Core develops nature-based solutions to manage water, soils and climate impacts. 

Through Turbine’s incubation programme, I transformed a technical project into a scalable, viable value proposition. The next step is piloting solutions at real scale and building partnerships to accelerate impact.” 

5. Stan Finniss – Recrute.mu

“I founded Recrute.mu to put people, meaning and fairness back at the heart of recruitment in Mauritius. The platform goes beyond CVs by integrating skills assessment, language and personality tests, and smart matching. 

Turbine has been a catalyst in helping me move from a highly operational approach to a more strategic and structured vision, and to accelerate partnerships with institutions and SMEs.” 

6. Tania de Froberville – Kalypso

“I am a Mauritian craftswoman specialising in raw earth construction. Kalypso develops natural, eco-friendly earth plasters to offer a sustainable alternative in the construction sector. 

Turbine’s incubation programme has provided structure, clarity and a strong support network to turn Kalypso into a viable, impact-driven business.” 

7. Camille Bérenger – Skill Quest

“Skill Quest creates tailor-made VR training for companies to improve learning retention and real-world preparedness. 

With Turbine’s support, I transitioned from freelance trainer to business leader, building a scalable model to transform professional training in Mauritius.” 

8. Bobby Ramasawmy – Bookatable

“Bookatable.mu is a restaurant booking platform designed for the Mauritian market, simplifying reservations and improving operations for restaurants. 

Turbine’s incubation programme has helped structure the project, refine strategy and accelerate go-to-market.” 

9. Dr Stéphane Bach –Tibok

“TIBOK is an AI-powered telemedicine platform focused on access to care, prevention and chronic disease management. 

Turbine has helped structure the business model and prepare the project for partnerships and future fundraising.” 

10. GuillaumeComaren– Boosted Experience 

“Boosted Experience provides real-time customer and employee feedback tools to help organisations improve performance and engagement. 

With Turbine’s support, the project is now structured for scalable growth and positioned to support Mauritian companies towards international standards.”