It is no secret that doing business online for micro and small business owners ends at the most critical part: payments.

Several surveys conducted by the Jamaica Technology and Digital Alliance supporting the SME Go Digital initiative revealed some concerns about the SME community. About 80 per cent of business owners have social media accounts, and approximately 60 per cent have websites, while only 40 per cent are selling their goods and services online.

Those trying to sell online are struggling with the high cost associated with the more established payment portals, having cash flow challenges due to extended payment deposit time frames for PayPal.

To whom do we owe thanks for this massive inconvenience and possible security risk our SMEs are experiencing? It’s hard to tell whether it’s the Bank of Jamaica, the banks, the Government, or the underground network of criminals that have caused us to be on everyone’s blacklist. More accurately, it would be all of the above. The truth is it doesn’t matter. We are at a tipping point where rapid transformation is required in fintech to ensure the viability of our most critical business sector. This collaborative effort will need multiple players to enter the space and providing fintech solutions. For entrepreneurs, the key is doing business online locally and globally with ease and not having their revenues sucked dry by processing fees.

There are some signs that we are heading in a more possibility filled direction with the recent shift by Amazon to allow Jamaican businesses to register on their platform to sell goods using local information. There is the tremendous earning potential for small businesses that choose to go the Amazon route as long as they abide by the platform’s requirements.

A critical component that should not be overlooked is the banking requirements and keeping the service level agreements for delivery. Locally, similar platforms allow small businesses that don’t have the time, patience, or money to manage their e-commerce operations. Yet, the uptake on these platforms could be significantly enhanced if there was a richer e-commerce experience in the environment in general. The efforts in the last few years to create affordable payment gateways for SMEs whose average revenue is less than $15 million per annum have been slow and remain somewhat unresolved. Not to mention the restrictions that have shackled the creative potential of young fintech entrepreneurs trying to solve the problem.

As we race to catch up with the rest of the world to enable e-commerce and ease of doing business, it’s clear that being behind the eight ball in this exponentially growing innovation means incremental steps may not be the way. As a country, we will need to leapfrog our current solutions to compete globally before taking a leading role in the region.