Page 18 - Islands Business January 2021

Business Business

CAN FIJI’S BPOS DELIVER

ON THEIR PROMISE?

By Samantha Magick

One of the few industries that has thrived during the
coronavirus pandemic in Fiji, business process outsourcing (or
BPOs) is also a sector which carries the hopes and ambitions
of Fiji’s government and economic managers.
During the early days of the pandemic, as businesses around
the world shut their doors and sent workers home, Fiji’s BPOs
were able to quickly pivot.
The chief operating officer at Mindpearl (Fiji’s largest BPO),
Alan Graham, says not a single day of work was lost during the
COVID-19 lockdowns.
Elsewhere, says Carol Watkins, the general manager of Pa-
cific Centrecom and Chair of the BPO Council of Fiji, “contact
centres all over the world had to just shut down overnight
because of the lockdown. It was crazy, you had customers
calling and nobody answering.”
“In Fiji we were able very early to organise the people to
Carol Watkins
work from home…we had people working from home as well
as in the office without any issues with regards to quality.” travel company called Aviation Online which does reserva-
BPOs currently employ more than 3000 Fijians, but Watkins tions and contact centre support for Fiji Airways, Air Tahiti
and the Council estimate that could rise to 8000 in 2023, and Nui, Samoan Airways and several European airlines including
almost double that again, if enough is invested in infrastruc- Air Italia. But it also offers a diverse range of other services
ture and marketing. says Watkins: “We do website and software development
Fiji has many competitive advantages over the industry’s which we’ve been doing for a company in Australia but also
big players in India and the Philippines say local operators; for the government here in Fiji where we provide developers
the very generous tax incentives offered by the government, to Digital Fiji. We also handle the helpdesk for Digital Fiji, so
a fast and reliable Internet connection via the Southern Cross these are the guys that look after our Register of Companies
cable, a young and well educated workforce, its proximity and and birth certificates, marriage and death certificates. So
time zone in relation to Australia and New Zealand, the very when you’re looking to create an e-profile [on a Fiji govern-
high literacy rate, the neutral Fijian accent and widespread ment website] and you have questions, basically you’re calling
use of English, and the high levels of service honed through my office.”
the tourism industry. It’s this diversity of tasks and services that the BPO Council
“It’s in our DNA and it comes naturally,” says Watkins. wants to promote, not only internationally, but also to the lo-
“When you talk to someone and they ask where you’re calling cal workforce, where there is a perception amongst some that
from and you say Fiji, it really helps with the conversation the work is low-skilled and low-reward.
because they say, ‘Yeah, I’ve been there for holiday, I love “I guess people usually look down on working at call
Fijians, they’re friendly’; it’s a big plus for us.” centres, for some reason,” says Angeline Tikoitoga, who is a
The Council’s priorities include promoting Fiji as a BPO pro- team leader for Centrecorp. “Especially when you’re study-
vider of choice in Australia and New Zealand, where aware- ing something like accounting and financing, you don’t expect
ness of Fiji’s expertise in this sector is low. That low aware- to find yourself in a job like this. I think people mostly think
ness is something Watkins has first-hand experience with. about KPMG or working in some place like a bank, but I can
After gigs as chief financial officer with some of the Pacific’s see I’ve learnt a lot more working here than what I’ve learnt
largest companies including Fiji Water and Starkist in Ameri- in university.”
can Samoa, she joined Lyndhurst, a clothing manufacturer and Angeline encourages other young people to give the industry
developer of the Kalabu tax free zone. a go. “For something that I started, just looking for something
Watkins says she first heard about outsourcing in about 2017 to do in my free time, it ended up bringing me to a place
and left Lyndhurst in 2018 with the intention of setting up her where I’m able to manage, lead and assist other people.”
own outsourcing company, but was convinced to join Centre- “We have heaps of kids coming out of uni with accounting
com, a joint venture between Fiji Airways and an Australian degrees and there’s not enough jobs,” Carol Watkins says.

18 Islands Business, January 2021