Award Motivates Young Manager Pillay
Winning an award at the Prime Minister’s National Youth Awards has provided youths the proper recognition they deserve.
For Digital Innovator Award recipient Kushal Pillay, the recognition meant youths have the right environment to excel locally.
The manager for software engineering and innovations at Acton Fiji said the award also signified the raw talents youths have locally.
“As highlighted by our Prime Minister two decades ago there was a lot of brain drain so a lot of people left and took their skills with them,” he said.
“I feel very fortunate that we have the right environment not only from the private sector in terms of Acton Fiji’s vision to minimize brain drain but also from Government to push for digital transformation.”
Mr Pillay’s passion for software programming begun from high school while studying Accounting and Computer studies.
He was introduced to programming with the help of his computer teacher in high school.
The 27 year – old furthered his studies at the University of the South Pacific majoring in Bachelor of Science majoring in computer science and information systems. After graduating, he joined Acton Fiji as a graduate developer.
“I have grown with Acton Fiji and its vision to help businesses and Government transform digitally,” he said.
“I worked on various projects locally and internationally with the company which helped me get the exposure I needed to grow in my career.”
His passion for software programming was evident in these various projects which helped in the company’s nomination for a youth award.
He said Fiji in better position to grow where digital transformation was happening.
“Things are going online, e-commerce are being pushed, online payments are going on,” he said.
“We have a number of customers both locally and internationally that we can help digitally transform using these technologies.”
With his win at the Prime Minister’s National Youth Awards, he dedicated it to his family whom he said has been instrumental in helping him shape up to be the person that he is today.
His advice to youths is not to be afraid to take risks and try.
Mr Pillay was nominated for a number of cloud, and digital transformation projects.