THE FIGHT FOR

from Caribbean Startup Scene Issue #4

by tenhabitat

QUOTE UNQUOTE

THE FIGHT FOR MOBILE PAYMENTS

Ayes Gibson

Ha -gill

Right now there are multiple players in the Caribbean mobile payments ecosystem. Across the region some of the players in the mobile payment market include Island Pay and Kanoo in The Bahamas, Mobile Edge Solutions in Jamaica, mMoney in Barbados, CaribePay in St. Kitts & Nevis and WiPay, which is in Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, St. Lucia and Jamaica. The flight of international commercial banks from the region leaves a supply gap in the ecosystem. Narrower and more expensive access to international transactions is extremely prohibitive for Caribbean businesses looking to scale up.

Even for better capitalised and more established companies the hit to the bottom line can be serious. Small or medium sized enterprises (SME’s) can face depleted income. For some, non-cash payments are not an option, which can result in loss of sales due to the inability to process credit and debit payments, while those that exercise that option face high transaction fees. So where do these E-payment providers focus their growth potential in the varied market? In one simple answer…foreign exchange fees!

Mobile payment service providers and other Fintech providers can fill this gap and potentially fulfil many of the lofty goals subscribed to by developmental agencies; these goals include financial inclusion of the ‘unbanked’ and ‘under-banked’, development of micro and small enterprises, and intermediation (international payment transactions). Further, standardized operations and regulation is the key to if, when and how these lofty goals can be achieved.

Who currently makes the money from online payments in the Caribbean? Here’s how things are stacked up; Republic Bank recently bought a substantial stake in a subsidiary of WiPay. Island Pay is partnered with a traditional financial institution; AF Holdings. CaribePay touts a service that does not need a bank account and mMoney is powered by Bitt, which is now working on making inroads with central banks to mint digital currencies. Recent studies and trials have identified some of the challenges specific to the Caribbean’s SME’s when it comes to engaging with mobile payments. Take note that M-Pesa and similar companies are not without criticism in relation to their wealth extraction operations being eerily similar to colonialism. Perhaps the lesson here is to strengthen and support regionally developed mobile payment and Fintech actors.

To this end the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank and the Central Bank of Barbados recently launched experimental initiatives, Regulatory Sandbox and Eastern Caribbean Digital Currency DXDC through which they will draft regulations specific to the emerging Caribbean Fintech environment. It does seem like more traditional financial institutions may be getting on board and securing their place in the potential future profits of mobile payments.

Perhaps the Central Banks of the region will commit to widespread creation and issuance of their own interoperable digital currencies, opening the mobile payments field to full-on Fintech competition in each territory. Alternatively, the multiple Caribbean based Fintech players could pool their individual expertise on a territorial operational landscape, raise capital as a group and become as a collective, one of the handful of pan Caribbean institutions. One thing is for sure, as a Pan Caribbean all 42.2 million of us must take steps today, to be better positioned to take on a more digitized E-future .

When Substance Dri ves Social Influence

DIANNE SQUIRES

Dianne Squires is a Bajan brand explorer, marketing communications consultant, and podcaster www.diannensquires.com

What she’s really aiming to build is a brand that, “Inspires people to action, evolves them, uplifts them, and empowers them!” With that expressed desire, a quick glance at Gigi Farier’s thoughtfully curated Instagram grid, with images of herself individualistically styled and sprinkled with motivational quotes, may give you the impression that she’s a fashion blogger, however what she really wants to do is effect her followers in a positive way. The self-confessed fashionista who once ran a styling business, is a Paul Mitchell trained full-time hair stylist, and is also a singer in her own right.

Self-expression through fashion and writing, drove Gigi’s earliest contributions on social media via Myspace and blogging years ago. With currently 10.5K Instagram followers and counting, she has been steadily climbing the social media influencer rungs in Barbados. She confesses that it’s only within the last six to seven months that she’s seen a higher rate of growth, nonetheless long before that, businesses had begun noticing the level of engagement Gigi garnered from her followers and she started benefiting from paid partnerships. Overall though, follower growth was pretty slow and she explains why that made sense for her, “It takes time to build anything of substance, so if I had just posted pictures with [me in] swimsuits, or gym stuff with me doing deadlifts and squats my following would have grown in a couple months because it’s pictures of your bum, but I was like, no! I’m doing something of substance.”

Gigi did her research and discovered: swipe up is the only way to get a direct link from your Instagram to your other web properties… and, it’s available in STORIES, if you have 10K followers. Following this discovery, attaining 10K followers became a goal. As Gigi sets new goals, the idea of substance still drives her content. After a 2017 health scare, she reflected on how Barbadian women often avoid talking to each other about the very experiences that could help them learn valuable lessons from each other. Although she sees herself as a private person, she felt compelled to use social media to, “Share lessons”.

In her #wakeuptowisdom IGTV vlog, Gigi tackles themes like moving from inspiration to action, pressing through failure, and getting out of dysfunctional relationships, which she calls “situationships”. She is frank but conversational, often making reference to her own experiences and the response has been telling. She made this observation, “I think that no matter how different we are, there are certain things that we have in common. My following started growing a lot when I started sharing more of my most truthful and vulnerable self on social media. I also think that video platforms help because people do not pay attention to things that are written in the same way that they do video or to something they can listen to.” Incidentally, the Barbadian social media influencer has recently taken the #wakeuptowisdom concept to the podcasting medium, where she will include interviewees. As for the fashionable images, she of course styles herself and is quite self-sufficient at taking her own photos by putting skills learnt in a photography course to use. The result? Less cost and faster turnaround time. Gigi emphatically expresses that she has always bought the majority of her clothing locally and has always sought to drive more business to the places where she shops, as her way of contributing to the economy. Harping about her love of shoes and fitness, the stylist explains that her ambassador roles with local shoe retailer Sole Addiction and First Fitness Gym, are perfect for her, as she was already a happy patron of both entities and more recently signing on with Senses Marché restaurant. However, Gigi remains selective about other potential partnerships, in order to maintain a cornerstone of what her brand stands for, “Truth and authenticity”. She cringed slightly as she said the word, “authenticity” explaining, “It’s such a buzzword in social media circles.” And she’s right, a quick Google search for the term “authenticity + social media” yields 170 million results, many of them marketing blogs, attempting to explain how to make your brand more “relatable”…another buzzword. According to Forbes.com contributor and psychotherapist, Amy Morin, “To be an authentic person, what you say and what you do must line up with what you believe”, a definition, which seems in line with who Gigi is and what she reflects on social media. Recently, Gigi was nominated for a GineOn.com People’s Choice Award for best social media personality. For others seeking influencer status or just wanting to share on social media, Gigi gives three pieces of advice, “Come from a truthful place, be committed to as much excellence as is possible at the time and be really, really consistent.” . no matter how different we are , there are certain things that we ha ve in common .

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