Students of the Adventist Academy in Aore Island were visited last week by a group of representatives from the International Finance Centre, who regaled them with life and career advice and donated sporting equipment to encourage the discipline that can lead to personal and professional success.
The delegation had flown to this small island just South of Santo to showcase how the financial services industry can spur growth across all sectors of the economy and throughout the archipelago, turning foreign direct investment (FDI) into new business opportunities and career paths for Ni-Vanuatu.
Martin St-Hilaire and Marie-Eve Chabot explained how they came to Vanuatu from Canada 23 years ago as young accountants and became so enthralled with the country and its culture that they became entrepreneurs, then citizens, and raised three children here.
In addition to building their professional services firm AJC, they both became deeply involved in industry associations and trade groups over the years.
Today, Mr. St-Hilaire is President of the Financial Markets Association, whose members include online brokers registered in Vanuatu under the VFSC’s Financial Dealers Licensing programme. He also leads the largest of these brokers in Port Vila, Titan FX, whose logo can be seen on numerous community initiatives around the country, from sports and education to civic life.
Together, Titan FX and AJC employ some 75 local professionals in well-paying jobs held by Ni-Vanuatu.
Invested in the community
Mr. St-Hilaire told the students that the FDL programme has done more than bring international financial businesses to Vanuatu. It has also introduced entrepreneurs to the country who went on to invest far beyond the industry that first brought them here.
“Sometimes financial services are just the front door,” he said. “People come here to do business, discover Vanuatu and its people, and then start seeing opportunities they had never imagined before.”
He then ceded the stage to someone whose own story illustrates exactly that.
Born in France and raised in the United Kingdom, Jean-Yves Sireau discovered Vanuatu much more recently when applying for an FDL for Deriv.com, the global brokerage firm he founded 25 years ago and helped build into one of the major names in online derivatives trading. That business connection led him to fall in love with the country and he went on to invest substantially in Vanuatu’s hospitality industry.
Right across a narrow channel south of Aore Island sits Ratua Private Island Resort, which Mr. Sireau purchased last year and wants to develop, in his own words, as a “Garden of Eden”, an internationally recognised destination built around “pristine nature, animals, plants, birds, flowers and biodiversity.”
Standing just across the water from his investment, Mr. Sireau told the students that Ratua wants to build a long-term relationship with Aore Adventist Academy and explore opportunities for collaboration in education, vocational skills and community development.
“For Ratua to succeed, the community around us must succeed too,” he said. “We need talented young people, and some of that talent may be sitting right here today.”
Back where it started
For the Adventist students, however, perhaps the most compelling story came from Branan Karae, who spent formative years on these very grounds four decades ago before pursuing higher education in economics and accounting and building an impressive career from the Reserve Bank of Vanuatu to the International Monetary Fund in Washington. Today, he oversees the country’s financial services industry as Commissioner of the VFSC.
It was, in fact, Mr. Karae who suggested this location for the visit.
He recalled arriving at Aore by boat at a time when transportation was more limited than today, as were educational opportunities for young Ni-Vanuatu. He spoke openly about struggling academically, getting into trouble and even being temporarily expelled from school.
At a difficult point, one of his teachers, Eric Albert, encouraged him to keep going, telling him that he saw leadership potential in him and urging him not to give up. Mr. Karae said those words stayed with him and helped change the direction of his life.
“A setback is not the end of the road,” he told the students. “You can make mistakes and struggle along the way, but with discipline and perseverance, you can still decide where you want to go.”
Sport, he stressed, is one of the best places to nurture those qualities. He recalled playing basketball and football during his years at Adventist and said the school had always enjoyed a strong sporting tradition.
“On the court, things will not always go your way,” he said. “You learn to work with others, make decisions, get back up and try again. You can carry those lessons with you long after you leave school.”
In a fitting twist, Mr. Karae also returned to his old school in his capacity as President of the Vanuatu Basketball Federation. The delegation presented the school with new balls, uniforms and other sporting equipment, and mulled improving the basketball court and encouraging more girls to take up the sport, including the fast-growing 3×3 format.
Careers closer to home
Mr. Karae encouraged the students to look at the growing career opportunities within Vanuatu’s financial services industry. He noted that international businesses licensed by the VFSC are increasingly building a real presence in the country and employing local graduates and professionals, as Mr. St-Hilaire’s and Mr. Sireau’s operations in Port Vila can attest.
“The FDL programme is not just about collecting license fees for the public treasury,” he told them. “These companies create jobs and careers for our people, and they bring investors to Vanuatu who often discover opportunities well beyond financial services. You only have to look at Ratua to see where that can lead.”
For students interested in business, accounting, finance or technology, career paths now range from compliance and fintech to digital assets and software engineering, offering opportunities to work in international business without necessarily leaving Vanuatu.
Ms. Chabot had some advice of her own for students considering professional careers in business and accounting. She reminded them that education is about more than accumulating knowledge.
“What you learn will change throughout your career,” she told them. “The most important thing school can teach you is how to learn. That is something you will use for the rest of your life.”
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