For freelancers and small businesses, getting paid globally is often harder than the work itself. All too often, high transfer fees and payout delays undermine businesses and adversely affect their sustainability. With Monique Powell, the Founder and CEO of Sendana, we discuss how this start-up is replacing slow legacy rails and redefining banking for borderless professionals. More specifically, and among other things, we discuss: the problem that Sendana is trying to solve; how much of the challenge of underdeveloped digital payments is technology versus regulation and legacy banking systems; what it means that Sendana is a stablecoin-powered global banking platform; and Monique’s vision for Sendana in the next three to five years.

 

This episode is also available on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music.

Across the Caribbean, one of the biggest challenges facing entrepreneurs, freelancers, remote workers and businesses is getting paid quickly, affordably and reliably, which has been a longstanding challenge discussed on previous occasions on ICT Pulse. It is still challenging for micro, small and medium enterprises and digital startups to secure online merchant facilities or to accept digital payments. Further, navigating international payments is often expensive and complicated and can be a protracted process, which can adversely affect fledgling businesses.

Although there are continued calls by Caribbean policymakers for increased innovation and entrepreneurship, these underdeveloped systems impede payments to individuals and the building of sustainable businesses, which in turn affects the region’s ability to compete in the global digital economy.

In this podcast episode, we will be discussing Sendana, a recently launched platform that is reimagining how people and businesses move money across borders.

Monique Powell

 

Introducing our guest

Monique Powell is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Sendana, a stablecoin-powered global banking platform. Prior to starting Sendana, she founded QuickCart, an e-commerce and logistics provider based in the Caribbean, and spent over 15 years in increasingly senior tech- and marketing-related positions across various industries including media, telecoms and financial services.

Monique has always been passionate about web-based technology and the various ways businesses can use it to connect with customers and increase sales. She is now channelling that knowledge and energy into helping freelance professionals, remote workers, and content creators around the world to earn globally and spend locally. She currently divides her time between Jamaica and the United States.

 

Insights into our conversation

As a Caribbean-based Consultant for over 15 years and the owner of a digital business, the challenges of accepting payments are well-known, longstanding and personal. More importantly, this constraint is not just an inconvenience; it limits an individual’s ambition and forces them to confine their dreams and goals to the limitations of their environment.

Being able to access more cost-effective and faster money transfer options is likely to be a game-changer for anyone who is exporting digital services, running an online business or working with clients overseas. Though it is still early days for Sendana—it is less than six months old at the time of the interview—the business has enjoyed enviable traction and support from DraperU Ventures, the Stellar Development Foundation and Embark Accelerator, to name just a few. However, it would soon be achieving over USD 1 million in transactions with virtually no marketing spend, and so appears to possess considerable promise going forward.

Below are questions that drove our conversation with Monique.

  1. Since our last conversation, you’ve gone from building an e-commerce platform to launching Sendana. What inspired this latest chapter of your entrepreneurial journey?
  2. For listeners hearing about Sendana for the first time, what problem does it solve?
  3. Was there a specific moment when you realised that cross-border payments—not logistics—was the problem you really wanted to solve?
  4. Looking back, were there lessons from building your earlier ventures that directly influenced how you approached Sendana?
  5. Many entrepreneurs eventually relocate to larger markets. Why was it important for you to continue building from the Caribbean?
  6. How much of the challenge is technology, and how much is regulation and legacy banking systems?
  7. Sendana is described as a stablecoin-powered global banking platform. What does that actually mean in practical terms for the average freelancer or entrepreneur?
  8. What has been your biggest leadership lesson during this transition?
  9. Beyond Sendana itself, what would success look like for the Caribbean’s digital economy?
  10. Looking five years into the future, how do you hope people will describe Sendana’s impact?

 

We would love to hear your thoughts!

Do leave us a comment either here beneath this article, or on our Facebook or LinkedIn pages, or via Twitter, @ICTPulse.

Also, if you or a member of your network is interested in joining us for an episode, do get in touch.

Let’s make it happen!

 

Select links

Below are links to some of the organisations and resources that were mentioned during the episode, or otherwise, might be useful:

 

 

Images credit:  M Powell;  rawpixel.com  (Magnific);  magnific (Magnific);  senivpetro  (Magnific)

Music credit: The Last Word (Oui Ma Chérie), by Andy Narrell

Podcast editing support: Mayra Bonilla Lopez