Fiji’s Outsourcing Industry – A way forward for the Fijian Economy

The BPO council of Fiji in collaboration with Market Development Facility and an Australian based company, Matchboard, organised an online webinar for senior executives of Australian based companies who are looking to outsource to Fiji.

The Minister for Economy and Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum delivered his opening remarks at the panel discussion. The event functioned as both an information session and networking platform to highlight the advantages of outsourcing key business functions to Fiji and to connect Australian Business with Fiji based BPO companies.

The panel discussion which was hosted by Matchboard’s Managing Director, Ms Sharon Melamed and funded by the Market Development Facility, provided valuable insights from the leaders of BPO companies such as Mindpearl, Our Pacific Office and Packleader into their experiences while operating in Fiji.

Mr Brad Hagstrom, COO at Harmoney , an Australian company who have been outsourcing their contact centre operations and other functions to Mindpearl in Fiji since 2014, shared a compelling case study on why they chose Fiji as their outsourcing destination. “Fijians have excellent customer service skills and their smiling personality is what appealed to us the most”, said Mr Hagstrom.

The executive director of the BPO council, Ms Sagufta Janif in her presentation mentioned that many Australian businesses require their agents to be fully vaccinated and is a prerequisite for employment in the sector. “As of September 8th, 52.9% of our targeted population is fully vaccinated whereas the Philippines stands at 28.2% and this places Fiji at an advantage”, said Ms Janif.

She also mentioned that many outsourcing operations involve the use of technology. The outsourcing industry relies on digital-savvy staff, which is generally a skill that younger people have. 85% of BPOs workforce in Fiji is below the age of 30.

The main objective of the event was to inform Australian BPO companies currently based in the Philippines of the benefits and advantages of potentially relocating here to Fiji.

The A-G highlighted Fiji’s young and dynamic workforce, high literacy rates, world-class ICT infrastructure, friendly customer service and low business costs as key selling points for companies looking to outsource to Fiji.

These advantages, coupled with the generous income tax incentives and duty concessions recently announced in the 2021-2022 National Budget should serve as a springboard for the growth of Fiji’s BPO sector.

The Fijian government has also provided a $200,000 grant to the BPO council to Market Fiji as the outsourcing destination of choice. Please see below YouTube link on How Fiji stacks up v the Philippines for Outsourcing.