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A proposed regional solution

In a small room fueled by big ideas, three young innovators have decided to challenge one of the most frustrating realities of daily life in Jamaica and across the Caribbean: how difficult it is to move money. 

Their mission is bold but necessary: to build a robust financial payment service that finally works for the people. In a world shaped by mobile technology, cloud infrastructure, and real-time data, these challenges are no longer just inconvenient; they are unnecessary.

For too long, ordinary citizens have been trapped in a system that feels outdated, inefficient, and resistant to change. In an era where groceries, education, healthcare, and even government services are going digital, banking in Jamaica remains painfully slow and restrictive.

These young founders believe it is time to change that. Why does money still move so slowly in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean, and what would it take to fix it properly?

More Than a Wallet: Rethinking Financial Infrastructure

This initiative is not about building “another app” or a standalone digital wallet. It is about building a secure financial infrastructure, the underlying architecture that governs how money moves, how risk is monitored, and how trust is preserved in a modern financial system.

At its core, the work focuses on designing:

• Secure digital rails for real-time money movement
• Embedded regulatory controls within transaction flows
• Continuous monitoring systems aligned with AML, CFT, and KYC obligations
• Strong consumer protection mechanisms
• Interoperability pathways for future regional expansion
• The goal is not speed at the expense of safety, but speed because of safety.

How the Journey Began

The journey began through lived experience.

One of the founders, Sashell Hall (now Sashell Daniel Idoko), is a Jamaican with a legal background and over a decade of experience in the banking sector. Her career spans early roles at JMMB during high school and university, followed by work at Jamaica’s National Commercial Bank from 2017 to 2024, where she specialised in compliance. She also served as a compliance officer at Jamaica’s first digital wallet, Lynk’, gaining firsthand exposure to the challenges of fintech regulation, transaction monitoring, and financial risk management.

Despite this professional background, she remained, like many Jamaicans, a frustrated citizen navigating long lines, transfer limits, and system downtime. That frustration deepened when she traveled to Africa.

In several African countries, she observed how money moved almost instantly, often without internet access, through regulated digital platforms that had successfully integrated compliance, inclusion, and technology at scale. Even populations with limited literacy were fully integrated into the financial system. It was clear: the problem was not impossibility, it was architecture.

Lessons from Africa: Evidence That It Works

Across Africa, fintech models have demonstrated what is possible when regulators and innovators move together:

• Real-time peer-to-peer transfers embedded with transaction monitoring
• Mobile-first systems that serve both formal and informal economies
• Cross-border remittances that are faster and more affordable
• Widespread financial inclusion without abandoning regulatory oversight

These systems are not perfect. Risks such as fraud and money laundering exits, just as they do everywhere. But the key lesson is this: regulatory frameworks evolved alongside innovation, rather than reacting after the fact.

The Caribbean can do the same, and in many ways, can do it better. 

Previous initiatives were constrained by system design and regulatory sequencing 

Previous digital banking and payment initiatives in Jamaica struggled not because of lack of intent, but because of structural constraints:

• Legacy systems not designed for real-time processing
• Compliance layered on after product development rather than embedded within it
• Limited regional coordination across regulators
• Low trust between innovators and supervisory bodies

This initiative seeks to address those gaps directly by designing regulation into the infrastructure itself.

A Compliance-First, Partnership-Led Approach

From the outset, the founders have taken a firm position: financial innovation must strengthen the financial system, not weaken it.

The model being developed prioritises:

• Built-in transaction monitoring and reporting systems
• Risk-based controls aligned with regulatory expectations
• Transparent audit trails and data integrity safeguards
• Phased implementation starting in Jamaica
• Structured engagement with regulators from day one

This is not a call for deregulation.

It is a call for collaboration, regulatory sandboxes, and modern supervisory tools that reflect how money actually moves in today’s world.

The Team Behind the Vision

The initiative brings together a multidisciplinary founding team:

 • Sashell Daniel Idoko, a Jamaican legal and compliance professional with deep experience in traditional banking and fintech regulation, bridging Caribbean and African perspectives. Sashell is also a recent graduate of the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE), an initiative of the US Embassy. 

 • Ajiri Okoribe, founder of GirlLearn Africa, a tech education platform empowering women with digital, technical, and soft skills across the Africa continent. Her work has been recognised and supported by global institutions, including the Gates Foundation and the Tony Elumelu Foundation. At the heart of her work is a commitment to building people, creating opportunity, and advancing economic inclusion.

 • Fona Erhabor, a senior software and embedded systems engineer, technical founder, and product architect with expertise in building secure, scalable, mobile-first systems across fintech and legal technology across Africa. His work emphasises reliability, security, and user-centred design, alongside mentorship and developer education.

Together, they bring legal rigour, regulatory awareness, technical depth, and inclusion-focused thinking to the problem of money movement.

The Core of Our Advocacy

At its heart, this initiative is an invitation.

An invitation to regulators, financial institutions, policymakers, and citizens to reimagine financial infrastructure together.

The call is for:

• Modern regulatory engagement models
• Technology-enabled supervision and monitoring
• Real-time, secure payment systems
• Regional conversations about interoperability
• Shared responsibility for financial stability and innovation

Jamaica has the opportunity to lead the Caribbean, not by abandoning caution, but by building stronger, smarter financial architecture.

Moving Forward, Responsibly

This is not about disruption for its own sake.

It is about building systems that allow money to move swiftly, securely, and transparently, while safeguarding the integrity of the financial system. The future of Caribbean banking does not have to be chaotic. It can be collaborative, compliant, and modern. And it starts with building the right foundation.

This is a call to policymakers and regulators in Jamaica and across our region to partner and support us to make this work for our people.