Fong shifts sights to ticketing

By Sera Tikotikovatu-Sefeti

Having built a name for himself with a bow and arrows, George Fong has shifted his sights to meeting the need for a ticket-organising app for Fijian event holders.

TicketMax, a new event ticketing platform, was created from scratch by Fong and is designed for anyone who organises events and wants to avoid the hassle of processing ticket sales.

Fong is a software developer and a self-made entrepreneur.

He says once Fijian event organisers sign up to TicketMax, “Within minutes, they can have their tickets sold online throughout Fiji and the world.”

The app accepts payments through credit cards, M-PAiSA, and MyCash. “We issue electronic tickets to buyers, and in addition to that from the organiser side, we have an app for the game day to check and manage your guest lists and get people through your gate, and all the tickets have a QR code that you can scan on entry,” Fong says.

“It also increases accountability and transparency by logging every single transaction, giving you reports on your sales, or allowing your organisation to track the details of your customers and have that information for future use.”

The first of its kind in Fiji, the app took six months to complete. The inspiration behind it comes from Fong’s involvement in sports.

“I’ve been an athlete for 19 years in the sports of archery, and I’ve been involved at the management level of the national federation, and we are always fundraising, we always need to raise money to go to our tournaments, and the ticketing process was always so painful.

“You have to design and print tickets; you have to distribute them to everyone who is going to sell them; and you have to then constantly follow up,” he adds.

Fong notes event organisers also have to manage questions like ‘How many tickets have you sold?’ ‘How much more money have you collected?’ And, ‘Do you need more?’, when selling tickets.

“That’s a huge pain, and so that was the inspiration. When I looked around, I didn’t see any platform for Fijians to be able to do that here, and so because of my background in software development and financial systems, I decided to just go ahead and build the system to make it easy for locals to use.”

Fong managed the entire process from ideation, concept, design, trial, financing, and development of the software, and impressively, it launched in under 6 months.

“I would say the trickiest part that required the most work was getting the payment gateway sorted. That is something that many businesses struggle with here, and it is that sort of thing that took up a lot of effort”.

Fong says dealing with global payment companies like Visa and MasterCard, and local banks meant this was an involved process.

“There is just a huge amount of red tape. You have to have all these different requirements in place. Your website has to fulfil certain legal and cybersecurity obligations and that is just on top of having the cash to pay a security deposit.”

The app was put through  a trial phase with some of his business friends, and tweaks were made before the launch. It has drawn wide interest from organisers of events  such as the Makete Fashion Show and T1’s live concert, as well as corporate tourism events.

“”It was interesting to see how they all needed this type of service,” said Fong. “I have made it as easy as possible to sign up; it’s all online registration, and I have tried to make the cost of entry as low as possible. There are no upfront fees or costs to sign up and run your event.

“We only charge a commission on each ticket sold, and that is how we make money off the volume.”

Product updates have included an interactive seating chart function.

Fong believes that while many local software developers migrate to other countries for much higher salaries, there is “unlimited potential to tap into in order to make life much simpler.”

George Fong’s tips for entrepreneurs

• Stick to the vision and don’t give up,because it will be hard and difficult. “There were many times where I just ran into a roadblock, you are not going to get past this, whether it is a legal, business, or regulatory environment, but keeping my eyes on my vision motivates me to follow through.”
• It will never be perfect; at some point you are just going to have to launch the product to the public. Don’t wait too long.
• Finally, get feedback every step of the way, because there are other people out there who have been doing business for years and know far better.
• The environment is changing, so you need to be prepared for everything.