From left: Nakesha Lorde, e-Solutions Junior developer, shows Alana Cadogan and Lucy Hall the new e-Pay app from COB, which is soon expected to be expanded to other partners.
Local fintech company reshaping payment options
IMAGINE the ease of paying your bus and taxi fares, plane ticket or even your taxes via a mobile application.
One local company is working assiduously to ensure that this is more than just a dream for Barbadians, but that it becomes a reality.
Electronic Solutions (E-Solutions) is a young start-up financial technology (fintech) company based in Barbados and is developing technology that is empowering financial partners to offer customers many of the financial services that are being demanded in today’s fast-paced, high-tech markets.
Chief Executive Officer, Dwayne Roach, highlighted some of the work being undertaken by the company during a press briefing to announce the City of Bridgetown Co-operative Credit Union’s new E-Pay solution, which is facilitated by E- Solutions.
During the press briefing, Roach revealed that there have been discussions with Government on e-payment initiatives for the collection, for instance, of taxes via the app. “Our Ministers have been very receptive to the idea. Hopefully, we should be seeing some progress on that very soon. Very soon,” he said.
Additionally, he revealed that the Alliance Owners of Public Transport will before the end of the year, be starting a pilot project where E-Pay app users will be able to pay for their bus fares and taxi fares with the app. “This solves many issues for the organisation and brings Barbados in line with markets that offer car hire services, such as Uber and Lyft.”
The CEO, who noted that reception to the relatively new service has been good thus far, also explained that efforts are on the way through the E-Pay mobile payment platform to include all forms of payments, including unique entities such as Trans Island Air (TIA) 2000.
“E-Solutions and TIA are in the process of embarking on a pilot project that would allow the E-Pay platform to be used for airline ticket payments via their website. This will mean that users of the E-Pay service, including the COB E-Pay users, will not need to have a credit or debit card in order to book their airline tickets with TIA. We are also exploring similar arrangements with other regional and international carriers,” he revealed. (JH)