Episode 11: How Financial Technology will Facilitate the Caribbean E-commerce Entrepreneur

“If we can create a platform where 1 million of our Caribbean people can earn $50 USD per day selling their products online, we would be moving $50 million USD to the Caribbean per day… but we’ve got to be able to facilitate this trade both logistically and financially.”

If there's one thing the vast majority of Caribbean entrepreneurs attempting to take hold of the rapidly growing e-commerce market can agree on, it's this: accepting internet payments is often a challenge and more often than not the available options are exceedingly limited and loaded with service fees.

We understand that it's not just the logistics of getting products to the international customer that poses a problem for Caribbean entrepreneurs but also the financial logistics of trading with that same international customer base. That's why in this episode we feature financial technology (FinTech) professional Rasheed J Griffith who helps us to understand these challenges and sheds light on ways that we can go about fixing them.

You'll walk away with an understanding of:

  • The specific structural dilemma facing the Caribbean as it pertains to internet payments

  • How we can get past this structural dilemma

  • Why in today's world cash is no longer king

  • How we can potentially reduce our perceived financial structural risk using preexisting infrastructure

Listen to the podcast by clicking on the play button ► on the audio player below. You can also subscribe and listen to all of our episodes on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and RSS.

Resources

Follow Rasheed J Griffith on Medium and take a look at his published articles, including:

  1. Building E-commerce Capabilities in Barbados

  2. CARICOM Multilateral Clearing Facility: A Brief Note


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