Fiji: Realizing the full potential of Fiji's talent base

Sagufta Janif is the Executive Director at Outsource Fiji and one of Vanity Fair's top leaders driving progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Can you tell us a bit about Fiji's economic landscape?

When we talk about Fiji, we always talk about our beaches and our people. Fiji is an amazing destination. That is all true. But when COVID-19 happened, everything changed. Over 400,000 people lost their jobs, mostly in the services industry. Fiji lost half of its revenue. And we are always challenged with natural disasters. There are a lot of multifaceted challenges that the country is exposed to.

So, the need for economic diversification was looming large. We knew at that point in time that we could not start something from scratch. We had to look at the existing things within the ecosystem – within Fiji's economy. We needed to find a solution very quickly.

Thankfully, international outsourcing of business operations existed. It started in 2002 when Australia New Zealand Bank based its Pacific operations in Fiji. It was looking after all of its Pacific operations from the hub based in Fiji. At the same time, there was no clear structure, no formal recognition of the sector or the industry. And there was no clear strategy for growth.

What was the role of partnerships in supporting Fiji's economic diversification?

At the time of COVID-19, Australia's Market Development Facility (MDF) was already working with existing service providers and providing them with crucial support in terms of market access and training. In 2021, it became clear that there was an urgent need for a wider sectoral growth strategy. That is when I joined the team to develop a strategic plan for the industry, which was funded by the MDF.

MDF recognized the potential of the sector, which prompted Fiji's government to invest in the outsourcing industry. MDF's engagement was crucial in derisking government investment and shaping a strategic vision for the industry's future. We are now receiving around 2.5 million Fijian dollars of support from the Government of Fiji. Contrast this with 20,000 Fijian dollars that the industry was receiving in 2018-2019. That is a big difference.

How did this help the sector?

During the pandemic, we worked with the Government to recognize the industry as an essential service provider. This designation allowed our operations to work seamlessly while other agents were in lockdown. Since Fiji's outsourcing industry was recognized as an essential service provider, our businesses continued to provide support.

What happened next is that some of the businesses from Australia and New Zealand moved their secondary operations to Fiji to diversify their risks. When they saw the difference in quality, some of them moved their primary operations to Fiji. So that is what led to massive growth. In the span of three years, employment in the sector grew from 3,000 people pre-pandemic to 5,000 during the pandemic and to about 8,000 people today. Some 72 per cent are women and 80 per cent are below the age of 35. This is some of the vast economic impact that the sector already has on Fiji's economy.

When we talk about outsourcing, we always talk about call and contact centres. The industry has moved beyond call and contact centre support. There is an Australian engineering firm outsourcing its engineering services to Fiji. There are about 20 engineers working in Suva providing technical support to the Australian office. This has happened because of COVID-19, because we all realized that we can work virtually from anywhere in the world. And this has opened a gateway to accessing global talent from anywhere in the world.

What are some of the success factors?

There is multifaceted talent available in Fiji – from accounting to customer services. It is also about the reliability of the talent force. Some of the people working in the industry have been in this sector for over five years. And you do not find that in other competing destinations. Essentially, they are working for international companies in their home country. That is an additional advantage that Fiji has.

Of course, there are some other things that we can tap into. Predominantly, we are in the Australian and New Zealand markets. Some of our members are already serving markets in the United Kingdom and the United States. There is a strong potential for us to tap into those markets as well. The reason why we want to do this is because we can do shifts at night. We can create employment using existing infrastructure. We can double what we already have. That is the strategy we have.

We are trying to position Fiji on a global map as a preferred destination because we know we cannot compete in volume with larger destinations. What we are saying is that you do not need to move your entire operation to Fiji, you can move a subset of your operations to Fiji. It is a good way of diversifying risk. That is our main selling point. That is why we are able to tap into new markets.

The second point is about creating an enabling environment for the existing players or new investors that are coming in to set up their operations in Fiji. This includes talent development. We are working with MDF and the International Labour Organization to create a workforce strategy which will include a stocktake of what we have, what the global requirements will be and how we can address the existing gap. We are also looking at how we can create inclusive job opportunities, how we can employ persons with disabilities.

What are the next steps?

We are working on acquiring quality certifications. We are working on data protection law, an industry act. These are some of the things that we are working on with our policy makers.

The next step is about helping the industry grow further. This is about creating an entire ecosystem. We are looking at system providers so that the industry is sustainable in the future. For example, Google is coming in with the information and communication technology infrastructure.

A lot of support has been given by the Government of Fiji. And the Government is now lobbying on our behalf to create opportunities. If what happened in Tonga (underwater volcanic eruption and a tsunami in 2022) happens in Fiji, then the entire industry will disappear.

Just to give you a bit of context, the industry is currently valued at around US$ 620 billion. If we tap into 10 per cent of that market, we can create 25,000 jobs for the people of Fiji. That is the potential the industry has in the long run.