On Thursday, August 26, WiPay officially opened its Jamaica office in New Kingston’s Financial District. Aldwyn Wayne, CEO and Founder of the Caribbean’s leading fintech and payments company, says he saw it fit to open a Jamaican office based on what he described as Jamaica’s market readiness. He credited this in part to the decisions made by the Minister of Finance, Nigel Clarke, The Jamaica Central Bank and the BOJ Governor, Richard Byles.
“The adoption of a CBDC by the Central Bank sends the right market signals that Jamaica is ready to do business in the digital space. This is a space that WiPay is very much interested in and are desirous of being part of that evolutionary process” – shared Aldwyn Wayne.
In his contribution Minister Floyd Green welcomed the news and spoke about the opportunities that existed within his ministry [Agriculture and Fisheries]. He made mention that farmers were already using technology as part of their go-to-market strategy -through data sharing and GPS pin location for produce pick up- and that by adding WiPay to the process, creates an opportunity for farmers to sell their produce online and participate in the new digital economy.
WiPay Jamaica Opens State of the Art Facility in Kingston
The Honourable Minster also acknowledged remarks made by Wipay’s Country Manager, Kibwe McGann, who made reference to the RADA Cashless Farmers Market that was produced in partnership with the Government and the Minster [Floyd Green] and was used to demonstrate a real world application of WiPay’s Digital Fiat Technology as well as the willingness of farmers and consumers to utilize digital payments.
Livingstone Morrison – WiPay Chairman, Aldwyn Wayne – WiPay CEO, Hon. Min. Audley Shaw
Aldwyn Wayne, Hon. Min. Floyd Green, Hon. Min. Audley Shaw
In addition to producing the Caribbean’s first Cashless Farmers market, Mr. McGann went on to share that WiPay had long studied the Jamaican market through several activations and initiatives which were used as case studies to further support the decision to invest in a Jamaican office.
“Earlier this year WiPay created the platform that enabled Pan Chicken Men to take payments online. For the first time in Jamaica, consumers were able to purchase street side food using online card payments. This demonstrated that the Jamaican market was ready and willing to incorporate new payment methods into their existing businesses” McGann explained. “In April of this year, in a bid to stimulate SME business, WiPay gifted 1000 free eCommerce ready websites through an initiative “Project 1000”. The initiative was to drive eCommerce take-up by SME businesses. In an ambitious attempt to demonstrate how easy it was to create an eCommerce ready website and businesses using WiPay’s online payment technology, we [WiPay] hosted an online event with over 1200 attendees to create an E-commerce store, in the process shattered a Guinness World Record .”
Over the next twelve months, WiPay will inject USD$1.5 million in direct cash investment into the Jamaican economy, and will hire 40 Jamaican staff members to drive it’s processing and payments business at a cost USD $1Million. On display was WiPay smart terminals, capable of point of sale and smart applications, which will constitute an additional USD1.5M in technological investment. Combined, this represents a total annual investment of USD $4M.
Kevin Donaldson, Founder Roots Financial and early WiPay Director shared “WiPay’s current trajectory makes it an exciting investment opportunity. Not only is it transformative and disruptive but, it is inclusive. The next step will be to include our clients and stakeholders in this potential growth through ownership.”
In attendance for the launch and ribbon cutting ceremony included: Livingstone Morrison, WiPay Chairman of the Board and former deputy Governor of the BOJ; Kevin Donaldson WiPay Advisory Board Member; Honourable Minister Audley Shaw, Minister of Investment and Commerce; Ms Kivette Silvera, Executive Director of Food for the Poor; Carou Ralph, General Manager of Imagine Digital (Yello); and Kadion Preston CEO of CaribShopper.
For more information:
Email or call Kibwe McGann at kmcgann@wipaytoday.com or call 876.368.6940
