Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698080607552.pdf (Seychelles)
Produce By NISA April 2022 Table of contents Corporate Information Page Our Vision, mission and core values Chairperson’s statement CEO’S Statement NISA Board of Directors NISA’s Organisational structure Key focus areas – Strategic plan 2018 – 2022 Review of activities in 2021 Editorial Human Resources & Administration Sales and Marketing Printing Financial performance Report of the auditors / Financial statements 6-8 9-10 11 11-12 12 - 14 15 - 40 Corporate Information Notes to the Financial Statement Our Vision, mission and core values The National Information Services Agency (NISA) was enacted under the National Information Ser- vices Agency Act 4 of 2010.
Its main function is to compile, produce, publish and print the national newspaper, Seychelles NATION.
been printing its own newspaper with great success.
To meet up the demand, it has been taking on commercial printing to bring not only competition in the market but also improve the quality of service.

Vision Our vision is to remain the leading, trustworthy, factual information outlet across all media platforms with a global reach.
Mission Our mission is to educate, entertain and disseminate factual information in a timely and objec- tive manner through the publication of the Seychelles NATION newspaper and other appropriate technological medium, to help people shape their decisions.

Core Values We commit ourselves to work as a team respectfully and cooperatively in every task we do, striving to uphold trustworthy news and at all times embracing integrity, inspiring trust and taking responsibility for our action.
Respectfully It matters to all staff Because we can move forward It brings about great results Cooperatively It cultivates a spirit of oneness It shapes our behaviors It unites us It projects a good image for the organization Trustworthy Its builds fairness and ethical journalism Integrity It creates a product of value for staff and customers 1 40 Notes to the Financial Statement Chairperson’s statement Under the direction of the NISA Board, we have managed to deliver the 1) New leadership, by appointing the CEO, Mr Gerard Govinden.
2) 3) 4) A new strategic plan to guide us for the next 5 years on the strategic direction of the Agency.
Approved a new business model for the Agency, with our focus on Restructuring of the Agency by reviewing its organisational structure.
5) And, a revision in the scheme of service to retain talent and training of staff.
The year 2021 has been quite challenging for the Agency and we strategised on ensuring that the Sey- chelles NATION was being published every day, that the management has in place health guide- lines that will provide for the continuity of its operation and also that the staff feel safe during the pandemic and restrictions.
Financial Performance
that NISA has effectively managed to overcome the negative impact of the pandemic during the last 2 years.
Strategic outlook There are many projects that the Agency would have wished to have undertaken but due to lack of funds, it has not been possible.

We foresee the Agency having its own building as well as investing in new printing equipment that will allow it to further diversify in quality printing products.

I take this opportunity to thank all the staff and Board members as well as our loyal customers for their continued support.
39 23 2 Lucy Athanasius CEO’s Statement Notes to the Financial Statement Like in 2020, the Covid crisis dominated all our lives in 2021 and for many of us it was a year of anxiety, grief and distress.
Despite all these challenges in our way, I am proud of how the National Informa- tion Services Agency (NISA) team worked tirelessly to support the whole country throughout, demonstrating the worth of our public service mission through the publication of the daily Seychelles NATION newspaper.
Since the level of misinformation on social media kept soaring, the Seychelles NA- TION newspaper, a trusted source of information, had to be in the stands every morning to give the people the to quench their thirst for information.
Seychelles NATION newspaper, e-nation, website, Facebook page and other media platforms.
Since journalism is a public good, we see that Seychelles NATION’s reach and relevance remain strong.
Sey- chelles NATION’s Our news teams have and continue to produce outstanding work every day and they prove the value of trusted, impartial news.
But we know we need to do more not only to renew our commitment to impartiality, but to make the case for it with vigour in today’s news landscape.
In 2021, the Seychelles NATION newspaper celebrated a milestone - its 45th anniversary - and a full colour who were involved in setting up the newspaper as well as customers.
It proved to be real success as not one copy was left on the stands.
when the need arises and offer them exceptional value.
By mid-2021, NISA recruited a Marketing Manager to help the agency extend its portfolio and set-up to im- prove its offerings to readers in time with the improving economic situation and as a result we noticed an increase in advertising.
The Marketing Manager is tasked with bringing new businesses - in terms of advertising and printing ‘to the agency, working on expanding the readership of the newspaper through different mediums with the youth as target, improve our presence on mostly all social media platforms, and increase the sale of e-NATION.
All Coupled with that we took the decision to market NISA’s state-of-the art printing machine and computer-to- plate machine by running advertisements in the Seychelles NATION newspaper and also featured in a pro- gramme on Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) TV.
Emphasis was placed on getting more commercial printing jobs to generate revenue and at the end of the year, Gerard Govinden 3 12 38 Notes to the Financial Statement NISA Board of Directors Lucy Athanasius Roseline Hoareau Mary-Anne Ernesta Barbara Kilindo Claudette Albert Conrad Lablache Joëlle Perreau The National Information Services Agency Act the Agency to be governed by an inclusive board of directors which is responsible for the policy and control of the agency.
The board’s chairperson and vice-chairperson are nominated by the Constitutional Appoint- members are drawn from the civil society, the academia, the Association of Media Profession- als, and the government.
Barbara Kilindo (nominated by the Department of Information) University of Seychelles) Conrad Lablache (nominated by the Attorney General) The Chief Executive (CEO) Gerard of the Nisa board mandate.
The chairperson of the Nisa is Lucy Athanasius, appointed on the recommendation of the Constitutional Appointments Authority, in The vice-chairperson is Roseline Houareau, also appointed on the recommendations of the Con- stitutional Appointments Authority, under the same section of the NISA Act.
Five other members were appointed following nominations by their respective institutions, in Mary-Anne Ernesta (nominated by the Association of Media Practitioners of Seychelles) NISA’s Organisational structure NISA’s Organisational Structure is called a Func- tional structure.
This is because the products produced by NISA are on a continuous basis.

This structure groups the employees according to the functions they perform.
- 1.
2.

3.

4.

5.

Editorial; Finance and Procurement; Sales and Marketing; Human Resource & Administration; Printing Press.
Claudette Albert (nominated by the Citizens Engagement Platform Seychelles) on the management.
The sections are broken down into specialised sub-sections.
4 37 NISA’s Organisational structure Notes to the Financial Statement The National Information Services Agency Key focus areas of the strategic plan 2018 - 2022 Whilst visioning the 5 years strategy of the Agency in 2018, it was collectively agreed that we (1) Online presence, (2) Digital archiving system, (3) Finishing equipment for the Printing Press, (4) Staff incentives and training, (5) Marketing strategy, (6) 5 36 Notes to the Financial Statement Review of activities in 2021 With our activities coming to a standstill with the pandemic in 2020, we slowly emerged from the uncertainty, slightly cautious of what the New Year will bring us.
In 2021, with the government’s brave decision to open the country to visitors, the Agency was able for the last quarter of the year to equal its monthly performance to that of the pre- pandemic level.

We also faced many challenges but have been able to overcome them.

Editorial Commitment to impartiality In 2021, the Seychelles NATION newspaper produced by the National Information Servic- es Agency (NISA) renewed its commitment to impartiality which is the bedrock of its public service mission.
True to NISA’s vision of being the leading local news and information provider across all me- dia platforms with a global reach, the agency has been living its mission which is to educate, entertain and disseminate factual information in a timely and objective manner through the publication of the Seychelles NATION news- paper and other appropriate technological medium, to help people shape their decisions.
To achieve its goal, NISA needs to be a mod- is why the Seychelles NATION as the national daily newspaper relies on a team of dedicat- ed people with diverse skills and talents to be produced every day.
For years now, Seychelles NATION has been the most trusted news provider in Seychelles and this trust extends to the Seychellois dias- pora.

This shows that the Seychelles NATION news- paper remains a very important source of in- formation in the age of disinformation and the growing number of media outlets in Sey- chelles.

In 2021, Seychelles NATION continued to produce an unrivalled level of local, national, and international news and current affairs.
By remaining the most trusted source of news in Seychelles, the Seychelles NATION news- paper has been playing an important role in helping to counter the misinformation and confusion that is on the increase here in the age of disinformation.
According to a survey done by NISA’s Sales and Marketing team last year, the Seychelles NATION newspaper came out on top among other news providers when news consumers were asked to name the source they are most likely to turn to for impartial, trusted and ac- curate news.

High impact content Once again in 2021, the Seychelles NA- TION newspaper focused its resources on producing high impact contents that are loved by all audiences – including those who feel distant from us and even our com- petitors.
As it survives on its own funds raised through the sale of the newspaper, advertising, and commercial printing, not only the editorial team comprising journalists, editors, photog- raphers, and graphic designers, but all staff – printing, human resource, administration, generate the maximum revenue to make sure fronts.
This is because the Seychelles NATION newspaper is surrounded by some players with quite huge budgets in the competitive lo- cal media market.

Access to news and information people can trust In 2021, we continued to ensure that most Seychellois and all people living in Seychelles have access to news and information they can trust through the printed edition and digitally through either the Seychelles NATION app or e-Nation.
Even the website – nation.sc - continued to at- tract a lot of visitors and was the second most visited site in Seychelles behind the tourism department’s website.
6 35 19 Notes to the Financial Statement Editorial Covid-19 Seychelles NATION newspaper with another opportunity to show why it has its place in the media landscape.
Since for many Seychellois and other na- tionalities living in Seychelles it was a year of anxiety, this newspaper printed all information of infected patients and deaths.
Seychelles NATION also played a crucial role in combatting the spread of harmful vaccine mis- information by publishing interviews with local doctors and covering the arrival of the vaccines and the much-publicised rollout of the vaccines in Seychelles.

Our staff worked with dedication and determination, and they demonstrated the enduring im- portance of Seychelles NATION’s public service mission by serving readers through this period of strain, suffering and loss.
Seychelles NATION’s 45th anniversary In an era before television broadcast in Seychelles or even the internet, it was the newspaper that was the go-to source for most Seychellois and other people who lived in the country for every piece of local and international news.
- paper - NATION then Seychelles NATION - rolled off the print presses.
– when it became NATION.
It is believed that the name change – NATION Seychelles’ attainment of nationhood and the paper becoming a national newspaper rather than a bulletin of colonial news and announcements.
- tunity to celebrate the milestone with a spe- cial edition of the newspaper which hit the was in full colour.
Not one copy remained on the shelf as readers bought all the copies to read some fascinating anecdotes about the history of the newspaper as almost everyone who contributed to its success over the years was able to have a say in that edition.
Among those who shared their experience working for the newspaper were past and present chief editors, while President Wavel Michel and Danny Faure also did not shy away from giving their views about the newspaper.
7 34 Notes to the Financial Statement History How Seychelles NATION was born I n an era before television broadcast in Seychelles or The push to really develop Seychellois journalists started at Independence with the likes of Antonio Beaudoin and Gilbert Confait who were joined later by the likes of Conrad Berlouis, John Lablache and Rene Morel who produced news mostly for radio.
even the internet, it was the newspaper that was the go-to source for most Seychellois and other people who lived in the country for every piece of local and international news.

Yes, you guessed right.
Seychelles’ national newspaper - NATION then Seychelles NATION - rolled off the print presses.
If nowadays some of the readers are looking to get their news via phones and other devices, others still prefer reading the paper ver- sion.

Although print circulations have declined with the advent of new technology, Seychelles NATION aims to continue providing the newspaper on print if the readers still want it.

This means that the newspaper is committing itself to continue delivering news on all those levels.
With all these advances, it means typewriters have been replaced by been replaced by digital cameras and colour photos.
This means the job of journalists and photographers have become to some extent much lighter and faster.

This give journalists and pho- tographers more time to look for scoops, nice photos etc to satisfy the curiosity of the readers.

History of the Seychelles NATION newspaper The history of the now Seychelles NATION newspaper dates back to the 1920s.
Between Reuters’ Telegrams and Advertisers.
In 1942, the name changed to Government Bulletin and 19 years later (in 1961) it was called Seychelles Bulletin.

The bulletin published mostly colonial government advertising, copra and cinnamon pric- es, laws being introduced by colonial government and a limited number of national news items.

There were also some international news transcripts from the BBC.
It was by the end of 1977 and beginning of 1978 that more young people were recruited and this is when people like Jean- ette Julienne, Claudette Albert and Denis Rose joined and a special unit called Government Press Communique Service was established.

The unit, headed by a foreigner - Ian Carmi- chael - trained the young journalists and produced all the local news that went in the newspaper and on radio.
From then on, things developed for the best and more people like Jean-François Ferrari, Ronny Jumeau, etc, joined.

The newspaper kept the name Seychelles Bulletin until the day of independence – June 29, 1976 – when it became NATION.
It is believed that the name change – NATION- chelles’ attainment of nationhood and the paper becoming a national newspaper rather than a bulletin of colonial news and announcements.

Also the names – The Nation and The Stand- ard – were common names for newspapers in East Africa and elsewhere on the continent of Africa.
There were very few newspaper reporters with most of the staff being with Radio Seychelles which was in the same build- ing at the time at Union Vale.

From four pages when it was called Seychelles Bulletin, NA- TION increased to six pages in 1976.
From an evening edi- tion, NATION edition of NATION came out on November 19, 1979.
It also became thicker with eight pages from Monday to Friday and 12 pages on Saturdays.

In 1982, the weekday issue increased from eight to 10 pages and the weekend edition from 12 to 16 pages.

It was on January 4, 1984 that NATION became Seychelles NA- TION to differentiate it from other newspapers in the African region with the same name.

In 1990, four more pages were added to the weekend newspa- per to become 20 pages.
Seychelles NATION changes location Seychelles NATION moved to its existing location at Laurier Road on March 12, 1994.

It was a move accompanied by a great technical revolution insofar as the government had spent nearly 2 million rupees (1 euro was equivalent to 6.88 rupees at the time) to provide Seychelles NATION with the very lat- est computer equipment in terms of publication.
Seychelles NATION- - in a similar manner to a contact proof in darkroom photogra- phy.
Covering national, regional, sports and international news, the Seychelles NATION also has a weekend edition called Sey- chelles Weekend NATION and is published on Saturdays.

It has 24 pages.

8 33 17 Human Resources & Administration The Human Resource and Administration Section provides human resources management and staff development to the organisation.
It also ensures the provision of admin- support.
This section being referred to as a backbone of the internally and externally.
The Human Resource also emphasises its effort toward productivity within the organisation, thus cultivating a cul- ture of doing more with less.

In order to support the productivity aspect, the agency has in place a scheme of service that remunerate the em- ployees fairly and accordingly.
Training and Development The year 2021 being one of the most challenging years term training delivery programme as per the training plan.
Three NISA staff were undergoing long term training with the University of Seychelles and the Guy Morel Institute.
NISA’s Deputy CEO completed her Master’s degree in Business Administration and graduated virtually with the University of West Scotland and the University of Seychelles Recruitment Sales and Marketing Manager With the aim of spearheading the promotion and sales of NISA’s products in line with its set objectives as laid down in the Strategic plan, NISA recruited a Sales and Marketing Manager, Mrs Maureen Pierre-Louis.
The Sales and Marketing Manager devised a comprehensive plan of action through a marketing Plan in order to promote the sales of the agency’s products and grow the business further.
expertise of experienced and skilled person(s) is needed in order to consolidate the organisation’s mission.
Staff Turnover Staff turnover for the year 2021 has been around 10% and although this is a challenge, NISA has turned the same into an opportunity to foster staff development and multiskilling of the current workforce.
This has been to the advantage to both the staff and the agency as a whole.
The agency has managed to cut down on personal emolument and administrative expenses, thus perform- 9 Notes to the Financial Statement 16 32 Notes to the Financial Statement Long Serving Staff NISA values its long serving staff especially those who have been on the journey with the Seychelles NATION newspaper and the ones who joined NISA since the enactment of the Brenda Confait 42 years Patricia Payette 41 years Louis Toussaint Marie-Anne Lepathy Robert Andre Gerard Govinden 28 years 25 years Brenda Larue 20 years Thelma Estico 11 years 31 10 The management is grateful for the staff’s contributions, loyalty and hard work towards the advancement of the agency over the past years.
Sales and marketing Notes to the Financial Statement A new Sales and Marketing manager, Mrs Maureen Pierre-Louis, was recruited in early September to consolidate what the Agency already had with new ideas to improve on the sales of products and image of the Agency.
During the last quarter of 2021, we saw an improvement in the sale of adverts.

She has been able to improve the presence of the Seychelles NATION newspaper on all social me- dia platforms and we have seen viewership increased.

Interaction with our readers has improved on those platforms.

New contacts have been made, whereby the results will be projected in the following years to come.
- formance and align to the sales strategy.
Printing NISA Press The printing department of NISA is located on Bois De Rose Avenue and it operates under the brand name ‘NISA Press’.
Inaugurated in April 2015, the main objective of NISA Press is to create additional revenue streams for NISA.
Its staff are highly motivated and trained personnel whose skills are continuously being upgraded through frequent training sessions from our key international equipment suppliers.

The objective is to ensure that staff members are highly trained so that they could produce high quality print products that would satisfy the current publishing industry’s demand.

This depart- ment comprises three main sections - Pre-Press, Printing, and Collating, Binding and Finishing.
Pre-Press Services NISA has a high tech and well equipped Pre-Press department which uses Computer-to-Plate technology to translate designed digital layout graphics into printing plates that are ready to be printed on the printing press.

The Pre-Press procedures include the manufacturing of a printing plates that are ready to be mounted onto the offset printing press.

NISA Pre-Press Section also provides layout and design- ing services as an add-on product to customers.
Printing Services NISA Press is NISA’s commercial printing section and offers customers value for money.

NISA Press can print anything on paper at the most competitive price in Seychelles.
Some of the products that NISA prints include perfect bound books, annual reports, booklets, stitched or ring -
11 30 Notes to the Financial Statement Printing Collating, Binding and Finishing Challenges face in 2021
 1) A reorganisation of the unit had to be done to prevent any transmission of the virus.
Should this have occurred it would have paralysed the unit as a whole and would have led to the inability to print the newspaper.
2)
almost all our materials from overseas, this had a direct impact on prices for commercial printing and as a result an increase in the cost of production.
3) In March 2021, the Suez Canal was blocked for six days after the grounding of Ever Given, a 20,000 TEU container ship.

The after effect was that container ships were queued for a long time at both sides of the canal.
This led to transportation cost to increase that used to be delivered within 2 months took about 4 months to arrive.
4) With the closing of borders, we were not able to do proper maintenance of the printing machines usually done by technicians from overseas.

This led to slight errors in production and lots of wastage.

Additional cost had to be incurred due to the breakdowns.
Even though those challenges have kept us on our toes, we have been able to surmount them ion general.. Financial performance 29 12 Financial performance Notes to the Financial Statement
 to diversify its product base and took the bold decision to buy the offset printing machine.
The printer was to be used to print the Seychelles NATION newspaper.

With that purchase we were able to venture into commercial printing.

The revenue for the year 2020 – 2021 has been affected by the restrictions in place due to the pandemic.

There was a slight improvement in 2021 in the sale of adverts compared to the previ- ous year.

2021 has been a year whereby the Agency has focused on remaining a going concern.
The revenue performance in graph The adverts revenue which accounts for about two-thirds of our total revenue is showing an up- ward trend which is promising for us.

The total revenue curve mirrors the sale of adverts curve.

This shows that our adverts income remains our main source of revenue.
Our cost of sales is the cost to produce, print and deliver the Seychelles NATION newspaper.

With investment in the machinery, we have been able to reduce the cost of sales over time.

Some of the contracts that we had were renegotiated.
The administrative expenses consist of salary and wages and other staff expenses, utilities and During the year 2021, we were able to cut down on cost in order to remain in operation since we knew that our revenue will be affected for a while.
Cost in graph 13 28 Notes to the Financial Statement Buy Local 27 14 Notes to the Financial Statement Notes to the Financial Statement 15 26 Notes to the Financial Statement Notes to the Financial Statement 25 16 Notes to the Financial Statement Notes to the Financial Statement 17 24 Notes to the Financial Statement Notes to the Financial Statement 23 18 Notes to the Financial Statement Notes to the Financial Statement 19 22 Notes to the Financial Statement Notes to the Financial Statement 21 20