March 20, 2023 | Category: In the News/Media Releases
TTIFC and UNCDF-EU unlock grant funding for FinTechs in the Caribbean’s First FinTech Sprint For Financial Inclusion
Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago – Monday, 20th March 2023: Local, regional and global FinTechs may soon receive grant funding to develop digital payment solutions to solve industry-wide issues impacting citizens’ access to financial services across the region.
The Trinidad and Tobago International Financial Centre (TTIFC), in partnership with the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF)–European Union (EU), has launched a Caribbean FinTech Sprint for Financial Inclusion on Monday, March 20th, 2023.
The Caribbean FinTech Sprint for Financial Inclusion aims to attract local and global FinTechs with market-ready solutions to address three key areas of focus impacting citizens across the region that digital payments may help to solve: the development of e-commerce solutions for smallholder farmers; digital payment solutions for credit unions; and the optimisation of remote onboarding for D-Cash. A maximum of five successful applicants may be awarded up to US $100,000 each. Sprint partners include Trinidad and Tobago National Agricultural Marketing and Development Corporation, RHAND and CLICO Credit Unions under the Co-operative Credit Union League of Trinidad and Tobago, the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank’s D-Cash initiative, the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), VISA, the American Chamber of Commerce, and the European Chamber of Commerce.
“This is an important milestone for not only the FinTech sector locally but across the Caribbean. This initiative will give the sector a foundation to build world-class solutions with superior user experience and the strongest security standards. It will allow connectivity to the local and regional ecosystem, reducing the cost of partnering and accelerating the time to market, while also fostering regional collaboration, making these solutions internationally scalable and more attractive for partners and investors.”
“The benefit of fostering the FinTech sector regionally is to promote the development of innovative solutions and delivery models to engage with underserved consumers and businesses, which has been the agenda of FinTechs globally, resulting in increased digital financial inclusion, which would benefit emerging economies like us here in the Caribbean,” stated TTIFC CEO, John Outridge.
This is the first significant initiative to emerge from TTIFC’s FinTech Innovation Hub, aiming to serve the region, and set to launch the physical facility in June 2023 in collaboration with key partners such as the UNCDF-EU, VISA, Amaranth Business Solutions Limited, Huawei, and other strategic partners.
FinTech Sprint applicants may receive additional acceleration support via boot camps and market collaboration opportunities through TTIFC’s FinTech Innovation Hub.
The UNCDF’s Regional Digital Finance Specialist for the Eastern Caribbean, Ms. Helen Gradstein, said,
“It is important to ensure adults have affordable and convenient options to send and receive money when in need, use low-cost digital payment services, and access different forms of finance to increase their financial resilience. Partnerships with agencies like the TTIFC can be a game-changer to growing inclusive economic growth and contributing towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs.”
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About the Trinidad & Tobago International Financial Centre (T&T IFC):
The TTIFC is the state agency charged with the development of the Financial Services Sector. It is the lead Agency under the Ministry of Finance for driving the adoption of digital payments across the Government and the financial services sector as the country pursues its goal of becoming a ‘Cashless Society’ and a FinTech-enabled Financial Services Hub.
Vision: To be the driver of digital financial services adoption across all sectors leading Trinidad and Tobago in becoming the regional premier location for FinTech-enabled services.
Visit the T&T IFC’s website for more information: www.ttifc.co.tt
For media enquiries please contact:
Kamilah Evans, Manager, Stakeholder Relations & Communications.
M: (868) 689-6427 | E: kamilah.evans@ttifc.co.tt