The services of Mr Ifor Ffowcs-Williams were sought in February 2002, following contacts established by NPCC in the international fora dealing with clustering issues.

Mr Ifor Ffowcs Williams’ contribution came when NPCC was initiating discussions of clustering policies at institutional level. His comments enlightened discussions at the level of the National committee coordinating the implementation of clustering (PIC on Clusters-` Incubators and Science Parks), leading to a paper by NPCC recommending the setting up of a Cluster Leadership group at National level.
 

The Support of Mr Ffowcs Williams was essential in awareness raising on the importance of cluster approach to enhance the competitiveness of enterprises of various sectors. A workshop was held on competitiveness enhancement through clustering. This workshop was attended by private sector associations, institutions and government bodies, including the Hon. Ministry of Commerce and Cooperatives who was enlightened by the new word: ‘Co-opetition’.
 
Mr Ffowcs Williams also conducted a training of Cluster Managers during a two -day workshop. Attendees included representatives of public and private sector institutions and entrepreneurs. Following training of NPCC staff, NPCC in turn assisted other enterprise support agencies in capacity building and implementing clustering projects. To date clustering initiatives cover the Garment sector and Footwear sector. Capacity building exercises have also been conducted for Associations dealing with unemployed, handicraft promotion, women entrepreneurs and agribusiness sector.’  

Ram Jutliah, Port Louis