Building SkyEye's resilience

SkyEye is a homegrown ICT/GIS company focused on making cutting-edge technology work for Pacific realities. Working in partnership with public, private, and civil society clients, they are able to leverage geospatial & mobile technologies combined with GIS intelligence to develop sustainable solutions.

Passionate about leveraging technology to support sustainable development, SkyEye has also created Samoa’s first e-commerce platform called The Maua App. The platform provides market access to local samoans, mainly self-employed community vendors and farmers, to sell their products to buyers from all over the world. The application allowed rural communities to continue to sell their products online during the State of Emergency in Samoa, brought about by the pandemic.

Seeing the early positive impacts of The Maua App in Samoa, and the potential for it to grow to other countries across the Pacific Islands, founder Sam Saili leveraged the program to work with an advisor on developing their growth plan, which included human resources, operational and fundraising strategies. With the support of his advisor, Sam decided to separate SkyEye’s existing operations and management into two distinct groups, one for their traditional business activities and the other for their payment related business, which will enable them to grow in a more sustainable and resilient way. 

He was also able to determine an expansion plan for The Maua app to Fiji and identify exactly what their blindspots are when it comes to accessing the funding to do so. Founder Sam Saili has come to recognise SkyEye’s unique position in their environment and is working on collecting the data he needs to secure funding from investors.

Funding to scale their business from investors who believe in their work and can add value to one or both of their businesses