by Dominique Lescott
St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN): Local entrepreneur and founder of Jad Cash Alex Straun has created a digital payment wallet infrastructure currently servicing over 800 businesses across St. Kitts and Nevis.
“Jad Cash is a digital wallet, similar to Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, PayPal but with a little more kick, with a little more steroids”, said CEO and Managing Director, Straun. “It was created first with the intention of facilitating financial inclusion. So rather than creating a wallet that pandered to persons who had existing bank accounts, credit cards, etc. We needed to set up something where persons who did not have access to those sorts of services could still participate in the financial space, in the online space”.
WINN Spoke with Straun, about the business that thrived during the pandemic, where contactless transactions went from convenience to necessity.
Straun believes the pandemic forced local businesses and customers to adopt cashless payments sooner than was occurring before the pandemic, particularly micro-businesses.
Straun, originally from Cayon in St. Kitts has a background in banking, finance, technology, and elements of law. He is a self-proclaimed computer enthusiast and said he started Jad in St. Kitts and Nevis because he believes, “if you can get a particular product launched in St. Kitts, then you can more or less replicate it in some other places”.
“We want to do exactly what cash can do but ease the use of payment”, said Straun. As well as the digital wallet making it convenient for consumers to pay for goods and services, Jad Cash also helps to fight financial crime and helps small businesses to have a digital financial footprint, to support future loan applications.
For a consumer, it’s a four-step approach: download the app, you sign up, you top up with cash, your credit card, or mobile banking and you spend. Businesses can sign up via the website, create a profile, create an open invoice that enables persons to pay you, then anyone with a Jad wallet can use it to pay you.
“It is our intention to meet our clients where they are, and give them an organic way to make their financial transactions. We want just from your phone, to be able to purchase anything”, Straun said.
Jad has established partnerships with several local corporations and Straun highlighted the contributions of some stakeholders to get the business off the ground successfully. “Thanks, Miss Walters at the Cable who at the onset have supported us and for believing in the vision from the beginning and to support e-commerce growth from being non-existent to being huge in St. Kitts and Nevis.” One of Jad’s biggest clients is The Cable and its biggest partner is the St. Kitts Nevis Anguilla National Bank where Jad Cash facilitates several services. Jad Cash has been engaged by National Bank as a solution to reducing transaction fees. Jad Cash also created the framework which allows peer-to-peer customer transfers for non-National Bank customers.
Find out more about the Jad Cash app here https://jad.cash/
