For a start-up company with much of their operations conducted digitally, it might be considered a risk to hire a fresh set of local developers to make the application from scratch but this is exactly what was done successfully for the Sole Fintech app.
Sole chief executive officer Mereia Volavola speaks very highly of the local talent the company was able to find for the development and continuous troubleshooting and maintenance of the Sole mobile application.
Near the end of its testing phase, the app has been running smoothly with no major bugs or glitches reported. Ms Volavola emphasised the efficiency with which the young local team works, some even working remotely as the task allows.
“We trust our people. We trust our team and when you do that, you empower them,” she said.
“We are passionate about raising our local talents. When the skills exist here, there’s no reason to outsource the work,” she said, adding that “Our team is here; if we run into an issue we don’t have to worry about them being overseas in a different time zone.”
The company also conducts outreach and awareness to promote financial inclusivity via the use of their app in rural and suburban areas, much of which is also conducted by young individuals. “We’re not here to tell people (they) can’t do this.
“If people can think outside of the normal, obviously we should give them the opportunity to take it through.
“And I’m so pleased with these young persons who are able to gather their teams and sit down with the elders and talk about how financial transactions can be made easier for them,” she said.
The company is seeking to expand once they are fully operational and is expecting to recruit more local, talented tech professionals as they’ve proven to themselves that Fiji is not lacking in the area of a dynamic, tech-savvy workforce.
