KINGSTON, Jamaica— Digital payment solutions facilitator, WiPay, will be providing COVID-19 relief grant support, totalling $4 million, to people islandwide requiring assistance.

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Aldwyn Wayne, said the provision, which will be disbursed through Food for the Poor Jamaica, forms part of a larger undertaking involving other stakeholder interests.

Wayne advised that the total value of the overall provision will be determined after those partners’ contributions are received.

He was speaking during the official opening of WiPay’s headquarters in New Kingston on Thursday.

The grant initiative is slated to be launched in two weeks, and recipients from the Food for the Poor’s database will be given a QR code to be scanned at any approved collection outlet islandwide.

Wayne noted that these locations include gas stations, supermarkets, and pharmacies.

Executive Director of Food for the Poor, Kivette Silvera, said the organisation is delighted to be the distributor of the grant to provide relief to those who are in need.

Meanwhile, Wayne emphasised that “technology is what [will] take any economy forward, and any sector can partake in digital payments”.

Against that backdrop, over the next 12 months, WiPay will be recruiting 40 Jamaicans at the technical and mid-management levels.

Additionally, the company will be undertaking US$1.5 million in direct cash investment and US$1.5 million in technological and infrastructural investment.

WiPay, which was initially based in Trinidad and Tobago, plans on continuing its reach to various stakeholders in rural communities with the use of technology and digital currency.