App to assist farmers

SOLE Fintech Ltd chief executive officer Mereia Volavola is urging all farmers, including kava farmers, to take advantage of finance managing solutions available on the Sole app to help them better manage their finances.

Ms Volavola was a guest speaker at the four-day regional kava development strategy implementation plan and geographical indication for kava workshop held in Nadi early this week.

Speaking to she said kava farmers receive lump sum payments for their harvest so budgeting and proper financial management should be a must for them.

“Because for kava farmers, when they receive payments, it can be a big lump sum payment and after that there is a lag period,” Ms Volavola said.

“When you have a budgeting feature, and in our budgeting features we have what we call a super stack bucket. When you put all your money there, what it does is that it can manage all your money for a budget, fortnightly and even monthly.

“So, instead of spending the whole amount in a week, or two weeks, or in a month, you can help sequence your expenses over a period of months so you can manage that fund more appropriately.

“In that way, it provides financial stability to the farmers and their family.”

Ms Volavola said Sole has a product that could be tailored to suit perfectly what each individual groups wanted.

“We have a product which is tailored for groups that is opening very fast. There are different types of groups that can have an account, whether it’s a family group, or a cooperative, or whether it’s a trust, a tokatoka, or mataqali or any type of group and that’s including churches.

“We have a lot of groups and they have to abide with the document requirements that we have like resolution and constitution of the group, and then we have signatories, we have internal controls there, and it’s a very transparent system that we have.

“All group members have the ability to see what’s happening in their account and also, in terms of the approval of signatories, it’s so fast, efficient and transparent in that regard.”

She said with the latest move by Fiji’s financial institutions to phase out cheques, the Sole app is something that co-operatives and groups could use to better manage their finances.