Page 24 - IB Sept-Oct 2020

Fiji@50 SPBD: Celebrating 10 years of investing in Fiji’s women

ATH FLEXES ITS REGIONAL MUSCLE Before joining the South Pacific Business Develop- 20,000 members. SPBD is a key part of Fiji’s financial sector, and

ment (SPBD) program, Vani Vakacegu worked hard but has formed partnerships with some of Fiji’s most prominent compa-
By Samantha Magick found it difficult to get ahead. At 32 years of age she nies, including Vodafone, Courts, the Fiji Development Bank, Kiva
had four children, with another on the way. Her hus- Microfunds, the Rotary Club of Suva, Vinod Patel and RC Manubhai.
band, the family’s sole breadwinner, was a fisherman, SPBD has also played a critical role in supporting communities
Fiji’s Amalgamated Telecom Holdings’ (ATH) recent US$25 but “life was very hard”. through natural disasters, including Cyclone Evan through a Cash-
million investment from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to Then Vani was introduced to SPBD, at that stage a new microfi- for-Work program in 2013 and Cyclone Winston in 2016. Most re-
finance a greenfield 4G mobile network in Papua New Guinea, nance institute that was holding workshops around Fiji to help wom- cently, SPBD has launched a COVID-19 Pandemic Response Strat-
is a vote of confidence in the regional telecommunications en secure loans without security, to go into business. Vani’s first loan egy to benefit all its members.
powerhouse. was for F$850, which enabled her to start buying and selling fish. She “During hard times, SPBD listens closely to what the SPBD
ATH has operations in Fiji, Kiribati, Vanuatu, Samoa, Ameri- quickly saw returns. “The first thing I did was provide electricity for members would suggest. The best example is when the economic
can Samoa, and Cook Islands, but the PNG venture is by far my family,” she says. effects of COVID-19 pandemic hit the livelihoods of our members.
its biggest play. While dominant in Fiji through its Vodafone, Since that modest start, Vani has been able to buy a sewing ma- We immediately restructured their loans and provided a five-month
Telecom, FINTEL and Fiji Directories businesses, and listed on chine and brush cutter, which saves her family time and money. She repayment holiday. On top of that, we are currently providing Busi-
ness Recovery Loans and also promote the establishment of Home
bought a second-hand vehicle to transport produce from her village to
the stock exchange there, 22% of its earnings are generated Suva city, not only for herself, but for other women in her community. Gardens to cope up with the hardships,”says SPBD General Manager,
outside the country. She has purchased a freezer and more recently, a newer vehicle. She Rico Munoz.
That is set to expand considerably. The ABD estimates only has expanded from selling fish to other produce. Her children have SPBD’s philosophy of lending is based on respect for each indi-
11% of Papua New Guinea’s population is able to connect ATH looms large over the Fiji telco landscape through companies such as Telecom leadership roles at their schools and the eldest is at the University of vidual’s innate human ingenuity, drive and self-esteem. By providing
Fiji Ltd
to the internet. ATH Chief Executive Officer Ivan Fong says Fiji. small, unsecured loans of around US$400 to groups of rural women,
they’ve looked at PNG with the ADB before, but with Austra- Vani still works extremely hard—her day begins at 3am—but who then invest them into businesses based on their existing liveli-
lia’s funding of the Coral Sea cable, falling satellite prices and says global trends indicate earnings have fallen an estimated says joining SPBD has given her confidence to lead: “Everything I hood skills, it provides an opportunity for women to achieve their full
Kumul Consolidated Holdings’ construction of domestic fibre 20 to 25% in the telecommunications and ICT sector. “For us have learned from SPBD I have to take to my community, I have to potential, expand their businesses, support their children’s education,
and transmission networks, the timing was right to deliver a as a group you don’t want to look at a future that is all doom help them do the finance work and also help them do the marketing. I improve the healthiness of their homes, build savings and invest in
have to encourage them so we can
insurance.
“last mile” project to reach businesses and consumers—the and gloom. There certainly are some opportunities there.” buy one market on the high- Training and ongoing mentoring and guidance is key to SPBD’s
coronavirus pandemic notwithstanding. Fong sees videoconferencing, training and online interna- way so it will be easy for us work. Last year SPBD recruited its first participants to the Fiji Bloom
“ We acknowledge that there are three operators in that tional events as amongst these opportunities. “There’s been a to sell our product.” business acceleration program, which aims to pave a new pathway to
market and they serve that market to varying degrees, but big boost in payment mechanisms going online or contactless. SPBD celebrates its help informal, women-led micro-enterprises transition into thriving,
when you look at the business surveys …in the last few years We’ve been pushing the M-Paisa product through Vodafone 10th anniversary in Fiji formalised small-medium enterprises.
telecommunications has been creeping up there to the top [as for quite some time across the Pacific and that’s seen steady this year and has sup- Throughout the six-month program, SPBD connects participants
a challenge]. So we think there is an opportunity to provide progress but I think this is a good opportunity in light of the ported many women like to tailored business curriculum training, one-to-one private industry-
an uplift to the services in that market and to potentially pandemic, where people are saying that contactless payments Vani in that time. Since specific coaching and select networking events — all to help them
its beginnings from a small
modernise some of what consumers can have in the country is the safest way to do things, if we can get a few things out temporary office at the Suva build and execute a SME-level business plan.
“The Fiji Bloom Program offers a whole new world to the women
as well.” there it would help. Things don’t change overnight, people Motor Inn in October 2010, it micro-entrepreneurs. Through this program we are able to assist them
Fong says the advantage of working with the ADB as a are still comfortable paying in cash, but you kind of have to now has branches in the capital, to formalise their businesses, equip them to transition from micro to
cornerstone equity investor is that it will bring the resilience build the whole ecosystem. You can have digital money but if Sigatoka, Savusavu, Lautoka, Ra- SME-level enterprises and accelerate their growth through training
of ADB processes—such as transparency, environmental and you don’t have vendors who participate in that, if you don’t kiraki, and Labasa, and works across and business coaching,” explained Mr. Munoz.
social safeguards—to the whole ATH group. It’s a model Fong have the payment mechanisms on your phones and computers Fiji. Just last year, SPBD operations SPBD Fiji is part of the SPBD Microfinance Network which is
says they have used before, leveraging the robust interna- and you don’t have people who are comfortable buying online reached Rabi for the first time. In 2011 also celebrating its 20th Anniversary this year. The network started
tional standards demanded by the World Bank in Kiribati and and couriers and transportation that can deliver the products, it reached its first 1000 SPBD members; in Samoa in 2020 and has spread its operations in the region – Tonga
by the Vodafone group internationally ,across all its Pacific than all we are solving is one piece of it without other pieces that number now stands at well over (2009), Fiji (2010), Solomon Islands (2012) and Vanuatu (2017). To
businesses. But the main thing the project will deliver is scale being in place.” know more about the SPBD network please visit: www.spbdmicro-
finance.com
in order to buy hardware and bandwidth. Fong says while culturally, there may be a perception in Vani Vakacegu To learn more about Fiji Bloom visit https://www.fijibloom.org/
“Fiji itself with 800-900 thousand population and over a parts of the Pacific islands region that “Fiji is there to take To find out how you can support Fiji women through SPBD visit
million services, on the global scale that’s not even a drop in over the Pacific”, ATH is “really just an investor, we aren’t in https://www.kiva.org/lend?partner=562&status=fundRaising&so
the bucket. You go and talk to vendors, your counterparts and those countries and those markets 24/7 full-time, so we have rtBy=expiringSoon
it’s a bit embarrassing sometimes when …they look at your to defer to good local stakeholders who can help us with the
volumes, Fiji as a whole, it’s really not even ranking as a cor- cultural issues, with the sensitivities and making sure that we
porate customer in their list of customers. But if you bring in are doing business in a way that is respectful to each of those SPBD Fiji impact
markets like Fiji, Papua New Guinea, the Cook Islands, Samoa cultures.
and all the rest, then suddenly you start building mass and a “Ultimately our objective from a management perspective,
footprint where they can’t help but have to take notice when is in each of the markets try and find good energetic, talented
you approach them.” local people who we can pull up through the ranks, not only
In audited financial statements for the year ending 31 March so they can rise to the top in those markets, but for us, now
2020, ATH stated that the uncertainty around COVID-19 and that we are in the Pacific market, is to have that skill mobility 7000 active Over 54,357 Over 9000 savings 80% of
its impacts meant “the related impact on the Group’s future that we can deploy across the markets themselves.” women loans (worth accounts and members’
consolidated results of operations, cash flows and financial members FJ$69.26million) 4,857 death children are
condition cannot be reasonably estimated.” However Fong editor@islandsbusiness.com disbursed since benefit coverage now in school
inception

24 Islands Business, September/October 2020