Giandev Moteea: “The price of stamps must be adjusted upwards”

Giandev Moteea is retiring at the end of this month after having served the Mauritius Post for more than a decade. News on Sunday takes this opportunity to ask him a few questions on the progress made as CEO of this historical communication infrastructure that dates back to 1868.

Do you think it was a fruitful strategy to merge the Post Office Savings Bank and the Cooperative Bank to form the MPCB?

This was a policy decision taken by Government which we have all to respect, thus paving the way for me to delve in new opportunities. In fact, as soon as I joined in November 2003, I requested an appointment with the then Governor of Bank of Mauritius to discuss new ways to indulge Mauritius Post Ltd in the Business of ‘’banking’’. Further to an exposé effected on business model related to Post and Bank relationship, the Governor allowed Maurtius Post to carry out Basic Banking Transactions at all the Post Offices. This was a superb opportunity for the Mauritius Post. The conditions were such that Mauritius Post derived an income stream by in-sourcing such basic banking transactions and the staff at the counters were all too happy to continue their decades long provision of Savings Banking, with now enlarged transaction possibilities.

Where do you situate the Post Office Savings Bank to-day in the newly created Maubank?

The Savings Culture originating from the Post Office had its parameters. With the newly created MauBank, the business is being pursued similarly. In fact I proposed a Synergy Meeting Forum as a platform to expand the business model to another level so that customers are better served and we develop an online interface in the short term. Meetings have been held with the CEO of MauBank, Sridhar Nagarajen and our respective teams to drive this association further in a mutually beneficial business relationship. There will be new strategies in place and many offerings towards those customer segments frequenting the Post Offices and drill the business towards SMEs in an innovative and intelligent way. 

What have been the most revolutionary steps taken by you to modernise the Mauritius Post?

The modernization of the Mauritius Post has been effected in a multi- dimensional strategy. First of all, the alignment of all our people at the Post was a sincere and pragmatic exercise where we put the employees at the centre of the development of the Mauritius Post. Moreover, the re-engineering of the Human Resources and the processes of the postal services at both delivery and counter levels were duly done, which culminated in our offer of a One-Smart-Stop concept to offer multi services of payments and other innovative products and services to the public. In that vein the Shopping Mall concept is another step to move towards customers so as to attend to their needs wherever they converge in big numbers, which is a new craze nowadays.

The computerization of the Mauritius Post both at front end and back end inter-aces is another great cause of satisfaction, as it responds to customers’ needs and the Digital Post requirements for efficiency and e-Post services. The re-engineering of our Infrastructures to offer better working environment to our employees and the customers inside the post office is another revolutionary achievement. Indeed more work remains to be done to complete the tasks in our vast network in Mauritius, Rodrigues and Agalega. The setting up of an intelligent Social Dialogue with all stakeholders is another important area in the equation as well.

As you are aware Mauritius stamps enjoy world notoriety. It is being observed however that Philately is dying slowly because of high rates of new stamps. What should be done to revive Philately in Mauritius?

Indeed Mauritius is an Icon in the Philatelic World. Mauritius Post has always cherished this philatelic aspect all along its business endeavours. The creation of a modern full-fledged Postal Museum in 2008 is a tangible proof of this strategy. We work closely with the Stamp Advisory Committee to produce stamps of quality according to the themes allocated by the Authorities.

We won a series of Awards Internationally, the more recent ones being the Silver Award at New York International Exhibition and the Bronze Award at Singapore 2015, just to mention a few. The Joint issues with SAPOA during World Cup 2010,the Indian Ocean Countries for the ‘’Tortue Verte’, and the association with French postal Operator, LaPoste, to celebrate the 300th anniversary of French landing in Mauritius are testimony of philatelic products with the big postal players across the world.

The creation of a Reference Centre at our Postal Museum for philatelists and researchers, is at the forefront of our commitment towards maintaining the Stamps and the history as well as the news around them at time of issue, at the centre of the philatelic business development of Mauritius Post. But as we are a private entity relying on our own financial resources to remain viable, we have to respond to market conditions: with the constant reduction in mail volumes domestically and internationally, and increases in operating expenses due to economic conditions beyond our control, the price of stamps must be adjusted upwards, as it is the case all over the world. But we endeavour to keep the increases as reasonable as possible. And our new stamps and First Day Covers are very closely monitored to ensure fair values for sales. We need more philatelists. At the Mauritius Post, we have created a Junior Philatelic Club to engage and arouse interest among youngsters.

What is on the agenda for the future?

The Mauritius Post is pursuing its roadmap dynamically. We are implementing a robust second level of development strategy to position Mauritius Post in this Digital Post arena with e-commerce and logistics among new pillars of revenues, apart from other measures in the financial and mail businesses. The objective is to maintain Mauritius Post relevant to the new society needs and even anticipate customers’ demands and augment the series of sub-brand products at our different post offices. Mauritius Post is well recognised in the regional and international scenes with SAPOA, PRIME and UPU. The legacy being left should drive Mauritius Post to higher heights where all the segments of the population will be better served, confirming the vision of our Highway to Success being based on Quality of Service and Customer Centricity.