Mauritius prides itself on its multilingualism, the situation with respect to the proficiency in english in the conduct of international business activities on the island is far from satisfactory. Although english is the official administrative language and the official medium of instruction for the education system in Mauritius, it is not the preferred language for most Mauritians, irrespective of their educational level or professional activity. The overall activities of the research project were to assess the proficiency in the use of english in international business and export activities in Mauritius, measure the gap between the level of proficiency in english shown by Mauritian employees and that required for success in international markets and make recommendations to improve the level of proficiency in the use of fuctional english for business purposes.