Outsource Fiji’s participation at the 22^nd European ‘Shared Services and Outsourcing’ (SSOW) week in Portugal provided incredibly valuable insights to assess Fiji’s positioning as an outsourcing destination and inform our future strategies said Outsource Fiji, Executive Director, Sagufta Janif.

“This was an extremely fruitful learning platform for us. We are able to better understand the needs and requirements of global brands present at the event and gain a clearer perspective of how we expand from being Australasia centric and tap into the OS industry at a global scale,” said Janif, following Fiji’s participation at the event in Lisbon last week.

The Fijian delegation, which was led by Minister for Commerce, Trade, Tourism and Transport, Hon. Faiyaz Koya also included Investment Fiji Chief Executive Officer, Kamal Chetty. The delegation was supported by the Australian Government’s Market Development Facility (MDF).

“In the new Investment and Trade Strategic plan for Investment Fiji, the OS industry is recognized as a strategic sector for economic diversification. This event provided us with an opportunity to meet with potential investors in Europe and discuss Fiji as a future investment destination,” said Investment Fiji Chief Executive Officer, Kamal Chetty.

“We are very grateful to our partners for making our participation at this event possible, and especially to Hon. Minister Koya for leading our delegation, as well as the Australian Government for all its support through its Market Development Facility,” Chetty added.

Fiji’s OS industry currently employs approximately 7000 people. The Government has identified the industry as a potential future economic driver for the country, capable of creating 100,000 new jobs for Fijians over the next decade with the right incentives, infrastructure, and strategic marketing in place.

According to Nadia Hutchinson, Director of Human Resources Services and Operations for Cabot Corp, Fiji’s participation at events like the European SSOW 2022 is a step in the right direction to raise the profile of the country as a premier outsourcing services (OS) destination.

“The world knows Fiji for tourism, the world needs to know Fiji for its outsourcing industry.  At this type of conference, you have all the ‘heads of’, leaders, you have people who are decision-makers with a budget. So, this is the right place to meet those people,” said Hutchinson.

“Part of what I do is I build HR for multinationals, so I transform them from their legacy way of working and a lot of what I do is offshore work. So, it’s interesting to know that there is a capability that can cover the globe from the Pacific,” she added.

During the three-day expo, the Fiji delegation undertook several initiatives to raise the Outsource Fiji profile, including sponsoring a networking break, site visits to Nestle’s and Europcars Global Business Services centers, business-to-business meetings, offering a holiday in Fiji package, and conducting three interactive dialogue sessions which were hosted by Hon. Minister Koya.

“I think the fact that you have set it up here, you have got the Minister who has come out to support this initiative sends the message as strong as it possibly can, that we are we are open for business, we want companies to come out and invest in our economy and obviously employ our population,” said Sema Fongod, who is Head of Sales for FIS Global, a multinational corporation offering financial products and services.

“For all of us at this conference, we all have that at the back of our minds now. If you were not here, we would not have thought that. We would have thought about conventional India, Manila, and the conventional Poland and Romania, but suddenly, we’re thinking Fiji. The more you can do events like this and the more you can spread the knowledge of Fiji being a location, which is most importantly accepting of investment, accepting of companies to come in and outsource its services there, that makes a huge difference,” stated Fongod.

This is the first time that Fiji has participated in the annual European SSOW, the largest shared services event in Europe. This year, the event attracted over 400 attendees.

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