Velo was founded at the intersection of 3 parts of my life, my university studies in Social Work, my work in payments and being a mum. When asked by my co-founder what our flagship product should be - I knew it was going to be justice oriented. Because that's who I have always been - justice oriented. I suppose this is why the work of the Innovation Hub and the RBF's National Financial Inclusion Strategy is so important to me.
Our pre-consultations at RBF led to us bidding to produce Fiji's first regulated Peer to Peer lending platform. While we were not successful, we are very proud to say we were shortlisted even though we were only 3 months in operation. We walked into that interview, as J.Cole said - with nothing but "a dollar and a dream". A dream to uplift to our people out of the dependency on formal financial systems that were not built for them. A dream to create financial freedom and generational wealth for all. This and our pre-consultations led us to the Activator Programme.
From a total of 53 applicants, we are 1 of 8 teams selected for RBF'S Innovation Hub's inaugural Activator Programme. Fiji's home of start-ups and innovation is unique compared to other countries as it is led by our Central Bank, giving us a direct line to the regulators and policymakers. That alone tells us that Fiji is serious and ready to turn innovative ideas into a reality. Within a year, the Innovation Hub has put together a team of advisors, trained mentors and hosted its first Hackathon. Before an accelerator can take place though, they knew that they first needed to ACTIVATE the eco-system. This is where the 8 teams of the Activator come in.
Our first week in the Activator in late April was a 3 day bootcamp where we were joined by Creative HQ, which is New Zealand's version of the Innovation Hub. It was during this bootcamp that I could finally get a feel of what the fintech environment was really like here at home. Sitting in a room with other teams who were not willing to settle for mediocre systems and with ideas others might consider too big was refreshing and inspiring. I found myself very moved, almost to tears when listening to everyone's ideas and the impact they would have on the every day people. And all of this was taking place in Tower 10 of the Reserve Bank of Fiji. Fintech had found a home in Fiji, right there, with the regulators. How wild! In my cover photo - you'll see members of the cohort with the Governor of the Reserve Bank himself who attended our first ever pitch rehearsal.
With shared dreams and ambitions, the members of the cohort have found common ground and formed friendships that probably would have never happened without the Programme. From navigating policy together, helping each other meet stakeholders and bouncing ideas off of each other. We know that we all need each other to make the eco-system thrive and I for one am having a great time doing it. We've found the humour in the struggle of closed doors, cold emails and more - probably because the journey is not a lonely one anymore.
That's been the harsh reality of building fintech solutions here at home. There is still some form of scepticism when it comes to fintechs, and we still need partners to make our solutions work. Most of us need banking partners - and this has probably been the most difficult task to achieve. With 3 major banks and 1 scheme provider dominating the payments landscape here at home, the idea of a fintech entering the eco-system can seem either disruptive, unnecessary or even risky. However, with the support of the RBF, persistence and support from each other, many of us have been able to get over that hurdle.
With the smaller banks also looking to make a strong entry into the payments market, I've learnt very early into the journey that they are much more open and receptive to working together. They know that they also need us in order to stop playing catch up.
The journey of building partnerships has certainly showed me that although it is not easy, Fiji is ready to make space for some new players, and a fairer playing field is on the horizon.
Here are a few pictures from the first day of the bootcamp. I was pleasantly surprised to meet 2 former colleagues from my ANZ Bank days who have also formed a start-up called Lali, and are participants in the Activator:
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