Online payment platform, WiPay, continues to roll out its operations across the Caribbean region. Founder and CEO, Aldwyn Wayne, discusses the expansion to date; new services that are coming on stream, and how he balances the demands of being the CEO of a growing, regional business.
This episode is also available in Apple iTunes and on Stitcher!
The ability for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the Caribbean region to sell their goods and services online is still a challenge. Although the facility is available through commercial banks in virtually every country, the requirements that must be satisfied are onerous – especially for MSMEs, when their limited resources are considered.
However, in the midst of challenges, there are opportunities. Several tech entrepreneurs across the region have been, to varying degrees, trying to provide alternatives. One of them, which we featured on the podcast earlier this year, is WiPay, an online payment platform that first launched in Trinidad and Tobago about 2 years ago, and has plans to roll out its operations across the entire Caribbean region.
Since we spoke with Aldwyn Wayne, WiPay’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), WiPay has expanded its operations to Jamaica, with other countries already in the pipeline. The company also launched, a new product, Zwillo, which is supposed to be a digital payment app for micro businesses.
In having the opportunity to speak with Aldwyn again, essentially, we have a ringside seat to observe WiPay’s journey. Not only is the company expanding its footprint, it is also broadening its product offerings. Separately, these are challenging undertakings; so the effort required to coordinate and manage both streams simultaneously, is likely to be considerable. Hence, in this conversation with Aldwyn, we wanted to understand some of the thought process behind those initiatives, the experience to date, along with how Aldwyn balances the demands of being the CEO of a regional business. Key questions we posed included the following:
- What has been happening with WiPay since our initial conversation in February?
- How does WiPay decide what countries in which to establish a presence?
- How does WiPay decide with whom to partner locally?
- In building a regional brand, are there systems that have been put in place to ensure quality control – so that customers are having a fairly consistent WiPay experience regardless of their country of residence?
- Does WiPay see itself as better suited for governments and large corporates, or more geared towards the micro-, small and medium enterprises?
- What is Zwillo (the new product WiPay launched), and how is it different from WiPay?
- Does Aldwyn think he has been able to maintain a work-life balance?
- Does Aldwyn have any routines or things he does to help him be more efficient and effective?
- So far, what has been WiPay’s greatest triumph and challenge?
- Are there any imminent developments that we should look out for from WiPay?
We would love to hear your thoughts!
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Select links
Below are links to some of the organisations and resources that either were mentioned during the episode, or otherwise, might be useful:
- Aldwyn Wayne
- WiPay
- ICT Pulse Podcast episode, ICTP 048: Providing an e-commerce solution for a Caribbean-wide problem, with Aldwyn Wayne of WiPay
- Lasco Financial Services Ltd (Lasco Jamaica Limited)
- Jamaica Information Service article, Gov’t Endorses WiPay Online Payment Facility
- Jamaica Observer article, WiPay is here Trinidad-based e-commerce payment platform officially launched in Jamaica
- The Gleaner article, WiPay Partners With Lasco Financial For Jamaican Roll-Out
- LoopTT article, New app Zwillo is the e-commerce solution for micro-entrepreneurs
- Trinidad and Tobago Newsday article, WiPay launches Zwillo
Image credits: Ahmad Ardity (Pixabay); Facebook
Music credit: Ray Holman
