Page 22 - IB July 2020

Business

central region so I’ve got a feel for what the desire is. At the grow that export base,” said Strong.
moment, everyone is in survival mode but out of the survival One can easily argue that the crippling grip of the coronavi-
mode, everyone, as good businesses are, are already looking rus pandemic upon global trade infrastructure and industries
at ‘ok, what will success be for us in 3, 6, 9 months’ time, will mean smaller economies like Fiji will have to wait for
so unless we start that conversation now and have a critical the global economy to return to normal before it can proceed
understanding of that now, we will never be able to dovetail with its own plans.
that into our plan as we move forward into the next nor- For Investment Fiji, waiting is not on the agenda.
mal. So we’re looking for projects. Part of the things under “We are drawing a line in the sand and saying: because our
our two key mandates of growing exports and investments exports are still going and we’ve exported x amount to a cer-
is we’ve got to make sure that we match right. The first is: tain market, we’re not going to drop that,” said Strong.
understanding there’s a willingness, where people are saying “We’re actually going to grow it and that’s why we’re being
‘yes, we want to go on this investment journey or this export very prescriptive. If you look at businesses here that have
journey.’ Then we will build on that capacity. So in the last been able to negotiate COVID, they are the ones who have ex-
few weeks, I’ve done a number of webinars and we’ve had port capability because they’ve been able to get that volume
two very respected export-based organisations as keynote offshore. And that’s how we’re doing it. We’re not going
speakers, so that’s about getting potential exporters and to wait until as a globe they say we’re COVID-free. If we do
current exporters in a room, albeit in cyberspace, where they that, then when are we’re going to start planning? So plans
can learn. So it’s about building that capability and letting are underway and we’re already executing because once we
them know that if they’re going on this export journey, then do normalise, everyone else will be scrambling for that same
here are some things they need to understand.” export dollar. We need to make sure that we put ourselves
There is no shortage of sectors where this match-making in the best position to be able to secure that. So it all comes
can happen and a few are on Investment Fiji’s radar. back to our key objectives, which are: to maintain our exist-
“Manufacturing is key. Business Process Outsourcing – that’s ing trade volumes and grow.”
just an opportunity that’s ready to burgeon and burst and The effort, said Strong, is supported firmly by Fiji’s well
what you will see with the work that’s going on here is that in known resilience.
five to 10 years, Fiji will become a Business Processing hub so “One of the things that Fiji is good at is to be able to pivot
watch that space because work has already started to position very quickly and we’ve done it very successfully as a coun-
Fiji in that space. Agriculture is critical and the work that try, whether it’s post GFC 2008, whether it’s one or two big
AMA (Agricultural Marketing Authority) is doing will allow us cyclones that have hit us – we can pick ourselves up, dust
to promote an agro-manufacturing product. If you go to the ourselves off and get on with it. So, most businesses in
global market, it’s very difficult for the market to compete this country have a business continuity plan which they act
against a fair amount of tropical fruit when you’re up against toward. Obviously, no one was headed for a global pandemic
larger South East Asian countries that can produce en masse. but again, I think that has given us opportunity and I think it’s
What we can do is: we have authenticity in our products, how lateral our business thinking is in this country that allows
they’re very true products, we have a high value niche brand us to think: ok, here’s an opportunity, amidst all the darkness
position globally, so that’s what we leverage in terms of our of the talk globally.”
manufacturing of our agricultural sector. We also have our
forestry sector that’s burgeoning again and there are certain editor@islandsbusiness.com
species within that that we’re building in our plans to really

22 Islands Business, July 2020