The migration of Fijian workers is a major concern but the fledgling business process outsourcing (BPO) industry could provide an incentive for workers to remain and contribute to the country, says Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade, Cooperatives, and Small and Medium Enterprises, and Communications Manoa Kamikamica.
On Monday, Mr Kamikamica officially opened Outsource Fiji office, which provides the industry with its first dedicated office through which the government will support the development of the industry.
“The BPO industry has emerged as a game changer for the Fiji economy – employing over 8000 people. We know that this will continue to grow,” Mr Kamikamica said.
“But this comes at a time where Fijians are also leaving offshore to other countries as well. Just over the weekend I had spoken at the Fiji Institute of Chartered Accountants Congress that we are well aware of the mass movements abroad from our skilled tradespeople, to nurses, accountants, doctors, software developers, even drivers and machine operators. However, I firmly believe, the outsourcing industry in Fiji offers an attractive value proposition for young Fijians to stay back. Not only do you pay them really well but you also continue to empower them through necessary training and professional development and improve the overall quality of the industry,” Mr Kamikamica added.
The highlight of the event was a talanoa session between the minister and industry stakeholders, in an effort to move it forward.
“What government is trying to do is first of all attract investors that want to invest in BPO operations. There’s a very generous tax scheme available for BPO industry – 20 years of tax free status. so that’s one,” Mr Kamikamica told Fiji Times.
“And obviously there’s support for the industry office as well. In terms of the infrastructure, at the moment there are offices that are going to be created in Kalabu, there’s another office owned by Telecom in Tamavua, and there’s also buildings in town, the Fijian Holdings building is coming up. So there’s a lot of infrastructure. “The other thing that we talked about quite a lot today is the communications. They say there’s some issues with telecommunications and also the costs, so we’ll have a look at that and see how we can help there.”
Investment Fiji, government’s investment marketing arm, was also optimistic about the potentials of the industry.
“I think BPO has done very well,” said Investment Fiji chair Jenny Seeto.
“When we started off at Investment Fiji following the pandemic, that’s when other countries looked at coming to Fiji and we find that when we go overseas, not everybody knows about Fiji, especially in Europe. Last year we went to Europe and people have not even heard about Fiji and they didn’t even know we had a sector here that’s developing. So, we just need to market more. We now have the issue of skills migration, people are leaving, we are finding it difficult to get office spaces, we have investors coming in who need very large spaces for example. So these are some of the infrastructure issues that we do have to sort out,” Ms Seeto said.
Through Investment Fiji, the Government offers several incentives to encourage BPOs to open delivery centres in Fiji, including:
- 20–year tax holiday
- Duty-free equipment used in outsourcing centres
- Carry forward losses up to eight years
- 25 per cent investment allowance for renovation of buildings
- 100 per cent tax deduction for Employer superannuation contribution
- No stamp duty
Employment taxation schemes enabling tax deductions as follows:
- 400 per cent — employees with disabilities
- 300 per cent — first time employees
- 300 per cent — work placements
- 300 per cent — part-time workers
- 150 per cent — employee development
- 150 per cent — relating to family care
- 150 per cent — relating to paternity leave.
