The Interledger Community 🌱: Alexendra Naisara Grey

From an idea to the sandbox: What it really takes to build fintech in the Pacific, Part 3

Alexendra Naisara Grey — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 10:27:24 +0000

What's been going on?

Over the past week and a bit - the dream of bringing our solution life has slowly started to transition into something real. While the Activator programme was not necessarily meant to be an accelerator, it still has had an accelerating impact on Velo. I guess that's what having the central bank in your corner can do. So now, with many of the pieces in place - our primary focus is now on securing funding to move forward with our build. That's the reality of the matter, with great solutions comes great expenses.

What's keeping me going?

Every day I go over the numbers. I read the project overview. I remind myself why I chose to work on a solution that is so community focused. Our children deserve so much better than what we have, and Velo is determined to give them a strong launching pad. This is not just about financial literacy and inclusion, this is about creating economic equality, and potentially changing the trajectory of a nation. We want to create generational change. And to create this change we need to stop excluding our children. Excluded children become excluded adults. We need to bring them into the digital economy, and equip them well. We also need to truly open up that payment loop and seriously think about what accessibility means.

What's next?

Testing is on the agenda for the next week. We'll begin testing just how child user-friendly our front end is and hopefully get some fun feedback and even advice from kids. We're also preparing for the Programme's final showcase so we are working towards presenting something exciting for everyone to check out.

Until then, this is me, signing out from within the Activator Programme.

From an idea to the Sandbox: What It Really Takes to Build Fintech in the Pacific, Part 2

Alexendra Naisara Grey — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 01:12:18 +0000

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:

From an idea to the Sandbox: What It Really Takes to Build Fintech in the Pacific, Part 1

Alexendra Naisara Grey — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 21:23:30 +0000

Fiji's Reserve Bank has a National Financial Inclusion Strategy that they are working through until 2030. Within that strategy, children and youths have been identified as part of our underserved population when it comes to access to Digital Financial Services. When I first walked into RBF for pre-consultations, I walked in with just a newly registered business and an idea about how I could help bring our children and youths into the digital economy. What I did not anticipate was that just a few months later, I would have a designated space once a week in our Central Bank's building, and access to the regulators themselves, while I work on what was once just an idea.

I'm writing this from inside the RBF's first ever Innovation Activator, and I want to share what I am learning as I build Fiji's first ever regulated digital financial service built specifically for our children and youths.

Velo's flagship product is its Family Card Programme, otherwise known as the Velo Kaji — which translates to "little" or "small" in Vosa Vaka Viti. It is a prepaid card for children aged 6 to 17, and sitting alongside this card is an app where children have actual oversight of their money - where they are able to learn to save, budget and spend responsibly. But this solution goes beyond the pre-paid card; within the app, we have embedded a gamified version of the financial literacy curriculum that was put together by Reserve Bank's National Financial Inclusion Taskforce. Aside from the gamification piece, we are working on translating the curriculum into Fiji's two other main languages - Vosa Vaka Viti and Fiji-Hindi, because we want to make sure that all our kids have access to this tool.

Why have I decided to create something that speaks to a generation that has not even entered the workforce? It's pretty simple to me. When we talk about creating access for the underserved and the underbanked, we often automatically think of the adults in informal or rural areas. Steps are always being taken to educate the adults, the MSMEs - while completely glossing over the incoming generation. I believe that if we can build good and practical financial habits and tools for our kids, these habits will naturally follow them into adulthood. We are creating a generation that is already well-equipped and participating in our fast growing digital economy. They are no longer an afterthought.

This is my journey through the Activator Programme to the Sandbox, and the roads that are leading Velo on its mission to uplift a whole generation and possibly change the trajectory of a nation. Follow me for more :)