Shanil Chandra hopes to extend his business with the new mobile app that caught his attention while visiting New Zealand last year.

With the mobile app the caller presses the app on his or her mobile phone which will then alert all taxi(s) and whatever taxi that is close by will attend to the caller.

This app is similar to apps such as OLA and UBER.

Mr Chandra’s interest in this app started when he travelled to New Zealand last year.

“Last year in November, I visited New Zealand for a short training in Copper and Fiber Optics. During my one week stay in Auckland, I used UBER and OLA which are ride hailing apps for travelling,” Mr Chandra said.

“I found it to be very convenient and efficient. I spoke with several drivers also and understood the concept,” he said.

“Then one month later, I went on an Asian tour to Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and India. While in Singapore and Malaysia, I used something similar to the UBER and OLA concept.

“Again, I interviewed several drivers and expanded my knowledge.

“Immediately, I decided that we need this in Fiji since we want to become the Singapore of South Pacific.

“Our Government is already working on the national ID card used in Singapore and our new e-hailing app will be in line with our Government’s vision for a modern and connected Digital Fiji.”

Mr Chandra is the director of Shazcom Technology.

“I am also a Research and Development Engineer by profession,” he said.

“I completed my Bachelor of Engineering degree from the University of the South pacific in 2007. We were already in the Global Positioning System (GPS) Vehicle Telematics market in Fiji with our SHAZCOM GPS app. We have connected over 2000 cars locally.

“And since we got the local dealership for Teltonika brand, manufactured in Europe a few years back, I started dealing with a lot of European engineers and software developers who do most of the software development for us.

“We also have some developers in India and Middle East region whom we use from time to time. Knowledge sharing between developers and engineers is a common thing.

He is convinced that the app would be a success in Fiji.

“Fiji definitely needs this ride-hailing app because we are progressing rapidly towards Digital Fiji with launch of services such as Walesi app which is a digital platform that delivers high quality digital content directly to your phone and also the e-ticketing platform where we tap to pay,” Mr Chandra said.

“It is very important for us Fijians to understand that the whole world is moving towards a software driven attitude. For example, look at Facebook, Airbnb, Uber, Netflix, eBay, Shopify, etc.

“These are all software companies that have taken the world by storm and generated so much income for their countries.

“Furthermore, currently Fijians have to go out in the rain and to the main road to call out to a taxi.

“With the Fiji Cabs app, Fijians can call a taxi from the comfort of their home just by the press of a button. It’s very convenient!

“Even in the current coronavirus crisis, people can easily call a taxi from their home or office rather than having to go out walking on the streets looking for one.”

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