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Post Fiji chief executive officer Anirudha Bansod has more than 20 years experience in various countries, including Australia, New Zealand, India, Dubai, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Nauru and Fiji.

He started as a sales person before he gradually rose through the management ranks.

“I am fortunate that I understand the intricacies of operations,” he said. Mr Bansod has a Masters in Management from Massey University, New Zealand, and a doctorate in Marketing from the University of Notre Dame, Australia. He says his unique brand is owed to the experience and skills he learnt from a variety of industries and private, academic, training, and public organistions he worked in.

“I understand Pacific market dynamics and culture very well,” he said.

“This knowledge helps me to adjust and adapt the work flow anywhere very smoothly.

“My academic experience helps me to critically analyse and support my decisions with logical interpretation, methodological research-based approach and together with industrial skills to calculate risk taking on a particular decision.”

He explains his plans to further Post Fiji.

Tell us more about your background.

My last role as group chief executive officer with a Pacific island government was handling subsidiary companies in transport, hardware, construction, retail, insurance, hotel, properties and procurement under the government holding corporation.

It was a larger group than my current organisation.

However, every organisation has different challenges and I have successfully handled them and made constructive decisions to deal with situations.

Why did you choose to join the postal service?

For a few years, I was employed with Government and State-owned enterprises (SOEs).

SOEs are public organisations by government.

SOEs business deals with public money and Government is the custodian of SOEs.

I have a firm belief that all SOEs must be commercially driven to be sustainable, progressive and commercially viable businesses.

Considering these pillars and objectives of SOEs, functioning of a SOE is more difficult and challenging than running a private business.

In a private business, the ultimate goal is profit making and maximising shareholders’ equity.

However, in SOEs, its about making the organisation commercially viable and sustainable, and making profit and growth and, delivering services to the controlled country.

Post Fiji is a challenging business of the Government of Fiji.

There is huge change with consumers, especially the way they communicate.

From the traditional letter writing to email to social media and use of extensive social media, postal businesses suffered hugely with this change in consumer approach towards their day to day communication.

Why is postal service important in the age of ever advancing technology?

The change of communication style and younger generations using computer aided equipment has drastically reduced the postal services further. Today’s X and Y generation, with alpha metro society, use the transformative communication style with instant replies.

This has reduced the letters, greeting cards and other physical format of communication.

This has impacted heavily on the traditional mail services and is the biggest challenge I saw after joining Post Fijim, after which I took a personal challenge to reform and transform the business.

It is extremely challenging, when people using formal communication is declining.

The challenge is to keep postal business operating.

That’s where I feel more energy and challenges should be made to change and adopt a different transformative strategy, and where we change the business direction and make Post Fiji business sustainable.

At the same time rejuvenate the process, so the next generation keep using Postal services in the new product matrix.

Considering this challenge, I thought this was a great opportunity to make a difference with the skill, knowledge and expertise I have.

I am glad, these changes to strategies are very well endorsed by the competent chairman of the board of Post Fiji Lawrence Tikaram and board of directors, Fazrul Rahman and Manjula Dayal.

Today, Post Fiji has a competitive, energetic, highly skilled and motivated executive management team, who support my vision and goals for Post Fiji.

What margins of volumes have you noted in postal mail as a result of evolving technology?

Postal services are declining, but not post business.

There is a difference in certain products showing decline stage.

In business, every product has a life cycle, where products move from one stage to another.

Postal services are in decline stage. The challenge is how to rejuvenate and pack the product in such a way, where consumer demand increases with changes of strategic direction and product matrix changes.

At Post Fiji, considering these challenges, we are constantly thinking to change the landscape of our business. We have adopted various technology tools in our business.

Today, people are using Post Fiji e-shop, where people check their parcels, pay post box payments, buy stationary items, and use Telegraphic Money order transfer.

All this is happening with the engagement of technology in postal business. Our EMS services are one of the competent and efficient services in Fiji, which has more than 90 per cent of delivery accurateness and timely and efficient delivery system.

Post Fiji has close to 70,000 post boxes. We use these assets to transform communication by reaching out to a huge number of people.

Today, through Ad Post (Post Boxes), we send clients’ information, messages, catalogues, and brochures to 70,000 post boxes which reaches to approximately 350,000 people in Fiji with an average five people in the family.

This is absolutely the biggest channel of communication compared to any of the national newspaper, radio or television broadcast.

What are your plans for product diversification?

Considering the current coronavirus (COVID-19) and social distancing requirements, Post Fiji is venturing into grocery business.

We will have selected post shops to sell mini mart type groceries, where consumer can get all essential items in the post shop, while they do their routine postal services work.

We are also working on strengthening our e-shop, where we will have the supermarket kind of grocery items.

The consumer can simply sign up, select products they want and put it in the cart.

Once they put their selected items in a cart, they can choose an option of payment.

Once they pay the payment, our team from EMS will collaborate all ordered items and deliver at the doorstep of consumer at a reasonable price.

Hence, the customer can do the grocery shopping at their fingertip and get delivered at their doorstep.

We are confident this changer for Post Fiji.

Groceries are not a product, where consumer wishes to taste, feel, touch and experience the product.

Once they get a quality product, all they want is to get the supply as and when required.

That’s where Post Fiji e-shop will become their grocery buddy.

The second phase of Post Fiji E-shop will collaborate with SMEs of Fiji where an e - shop will give the opportunity to all these SMEs to market their products through our global online platform of eshop.

People can see various Fijian made products which can be exported through e-shop online platform and get delivered through EMS courier services.

By the same token, those who are overseas who wish to send birthday or anniversary gifts, cakes, roses or the sort can log in to Post Fiji e-shop and transact the services for local delivery.

That means, Post Fiji e-shop is for inward and outward transactions of various goods and services. will be game

Tell us about how the landscape has grown since Post Fiji’s inception.

Post Fiji is a 150-year old institution which has gone through various business cycles and turbulences.

It employs more than 400 staff and is one of the important jewels of the Government of Fiji.

The history of Post Fiji began with the first Postal Act passed by the legislative Assembly of the Fiji Government in December 1871, which officially established a Postal Department in Fiji, a General Post Office, post offices in other parts of Fiji and the appointment of a chief postmaster and other postmasters who may be required to operate these Post Offices. The Cakobau Postal Act prepared and guided those who were to played a pioneering role in the operations and development of postal services in Fiji.

Until 1989, Fiji’s postal operations were a division of a Government department called the Department of Posts and Telecommunications.

The department then became corporatised in 1990 and from the first year of corporatisation to 30th June 1996, the inevitable separation of Post and Telecommunication was formalised.

The new entities rose instead – Post Fiji limited and Telecom Fiji Limited.

Recently, Post Fiji ltd became Post Fiji Pte Ltd.