Business in Fiji: two compelling joint ventures

With Fiji’s economy growing strongly and a wealth of incentives and assistance on offer, 2023 is the perfect time for Kiwi businesses to build both value and capability there through rock-solid partnerships.

In 2023, Fiji is rolling out the welcome mat to business ventures with serious growth ambitions.  

The country, renowned for its friendly welcoming smiles, is totally focused on promoting its latest business incentives and investment opportunities for New Zealand businesses.

Across a range of sectors – including pharmaceutical production, fish processing, building and construction, cosmetics, textiles, clothing and footwear, as well as high-end furniture and value-add raw materials – astute businesses of all sizes are being offered partnership incentives by Investment Fiji.

There are considerable tax benefits and customs concessions available to qualifying companies, as well as a number of assistance services for investors, such as investment matching, investment project management, trade development and policy recommendation.

For BPO companies especially, Fiji’s BPO sector offers a number of incentives and advantages, and the sector is expected to grow to an estimated 25,000 outsourced employees by 2025.

“Fiji offers a young, tech-savvy working population that’s experienced in working in the outsourcing sector,” says Investment Fiji CEO Kamal Chetty. “Ninety-nine percent of those employees are fluent in English, and 90 percent are under 35 years old and work in a culture of serving quality customer service.”

Kiwi businesses looking to partner with Fiji-based service providers will take advantage of super-fast fibre connectivity, modern buildings and outsourcing-ready offices, excellent transportation services as well as employment taxation schemes that allow for generous tax deductions.

Tourism is also under the spotlight, with a number of incentives and opportunities on offer.

The government’s plan is to expand the visitor economy to FJ$3.37 billion and attract one million international visitors annually by 2024.

Across contact centre, business process and knowledge outsourcing, Fiji stands out as a shining example of collaboration, support and service.  

Case study #1: Presence and capability

For Chandan Ohri, founder and CEO of New Zealand-based consulting and services company Duco Consultancy, there were three main reasons for choosing Fiji as its delivery centre for both Australia and New Zealand.

“This was the alignment to Fiji’s education system, the high standard of communication skills on offer with English the country’s first language, and the easy alignment of time zones between the three countries.”

Chandan says they received “tremendous support” from Investment Fiji, covering research and set-up, benefits, concessions and liaising with government agencies.

“The benefits of the partnership included the ability to move profits back to our holding company; partnering with universities that means we can target talent early; and the strong salaries, with Fiji’s low cost of living, gives us a cost advantage whereby we can provide value-for-money near-shore resources.”

Chandan says 2023 is about strengthening the presence of Duo Consultancy across the three countries (Fiji, New Zealand and Australia) and building capability. His advice for Kiwi firms is to work closely with Investment Fiji as a single window partner. “Visit Fiji and present your business case to key agencies, so they fully understand your business. Investment Fiji is the key enabler for this process.

“Then organise your banking support and work closely with a chartered accountant to make the process for compliance registrations easy.”

Case study #2: Going ‘loco’ in Fiji

Renewable energy and agriculture have been additional priority industries for Investment Fiji for some time, and many exciting projects between Canterbury-based Mackwell Locomotive and local Fiji agricultural industries are emerging. Facilitated by EU funding programme GET.Invest,

Mackwell Locomotive projects can deliver significant financial and climate impact benefits in industrial power generation, agricultural traction and rail locomotion.

Currently in Fiji, costly CO2-emitting diesel trucks and locomotives transport crops from the field to the mill. Mackwell’s ground-breaking ZeroLoco™ fleet can help enable a highly efficient rail transport system utilising zero-carbon, locally sourced, low-cost biomass fuels, including crop residues and agricultural waste products.

A pilot project is being considered, and the ROI and payback benefits are impressive.

Compared to an equivalent diesel locomotive, the ZeroLoco™ can reduce fuel costs by 85 percent, reduce CO2 emissions by 96 percent, and overall costs by 35 percent. In Fiji the margins are expected to be even greater thanks to local differences in the cost of diesel and wages.

Mackwell Locomotive’s business development manager William Bowden explains that biomass is the most cost-effective way to capture and store the sun’s energy in a zero-carbon, transportable and on-demand form.

“With our advanced-steam technology, biomass can displace diesel from a range of applications, including rail transport, farm traction and off-grid generation.”

Fiji’s sugar industry produces a biomass waste product called bagasse. William says they have calculated that just three percent of the bagasse produced by the industry can power the country’s entire sugarcane transport network.

William is grateful to the work the Fiji Trade Commission did to introduce Mackwell Locomotive to GET.Invest, the programme that delivers renewable energy projects in developing nations.

“We were accepted as clients for their free-of-charge Finance Catalyst services. They have a proactive, trustworthy and driven expert team who help us with advisory services, financial modelling and climate funding applications,” says William.

“Accessing such a network of skilled individuals would usually be out of reach for a small company, so we are very grateful to have their support in delivering our Pacific projects.”

Talk to the right people

For partnerships to work successfully in Fiji, it’s important to have people close to the ground, says William Bowden. He recommends speaking to as many well-informed people as you can and building a strong network.

“If people see that your proposal can positively impact the Pacific, they will help you.

“We highly recommend Camila Eiras from the Fiji Trade Commission in Auckland. Her business development, marketing and networking skillset is amazing and she can navigate all Fiji-specific questions with ease.”

To investigate a mutually beneficial partnership with Fiji-based service providers, or to learn more about Fijian investment opportunities, contact Camila Eiras at the Fiji Trade Commission Australia & New Zealand: [email protected]