The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A digital payments provider yesterday said a survey that found 37 percent of Bahamian firms have challenges accessing electronic payments would have “a totally different result” if done today.

Jeffrey Beckles, Island Pay’s managing director, told Tribune Business that the accelerated transition to digital services driven by the COVID-19 pandemic over the past 18 months would likely produce a much different outcome for the Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB) Innovation, Firm Performance and Gender survey.

That survey, which received 157 responses from Bahamas-based companies between June and November 2020, found that “37 percent of Bahamian firms reported access to digital payments as an obstacle (major or very severe) for their operations” - a figure that Mr Beckles predicted will now be much lower.

“I am absolutely sure that if you did that survey today you would get a much different response,” the Island Pay chief told this newspaper. “If they did that survey today they would get a totally different reply because there are more merchants, more consumers and more users.

“We have 40,000 Bahamians using our wallets and products. If you took that number to 18 months ago, we could barely beat 20,000. Based on the timing of the survey and research, that [37 percent] is a reasonable number but if you did that 18 months later you’d get a completely different survey.”

“A new potential obstacle that was included in the survey was the access (or lack thereof) to digital payment,” the IDB analysis of its findings said. “While this particular issue is not among the most pressing, there are differences worth noting.

“Thirty-seven percent of Bahamian firms report access to digital payments as an obstacle (major or very severe) for their operation, but this proportion is higher for female-dominated firms (43 percent) and firms who are completely domestic (45 percent). This points to a potentially binding constraint that could deter performance among women-led firms, widening further the economic gender gap observed in the country.

“Furthermore, 45 percent of firms dedicated marketing efforts in the form of development and implementation of digital media. This share is higher (51 percent) among female-dominated firms, which points to a mismatch between digitalisation efforts in marketing and access to digital payments for female-dominated firms. This mismatch is particularly important to address in order to increase the percentage (46 percent) of firms that use e-commerce for their purchases.”

The IDB survey found that while 96 percent and 95 percent of Bahamian companies used mobile phones and e-mails, respectively, in their daily operations, just 61 percent employed social media and less than half - 48 percent - have a website.

“Additionally, the share of firms that have a website is lower (42.7 percent vis a vis 65.7 percent) among young firms (established after 2000) relative to the oldest firms (established between 1929 and 1980),” the report added.

“It is encouraging that older firms have adapted and use basic technological tools to operate, but young firms could see an improvement by adopting the use of websites as well, complementing their higher utilisation of social media.

“Following the COVID-19 pandemic, Bahamian firms face new challenges for their operation or manufacturing. The ‘increased volume of available data from all sources’ represents the phenomenon that will have the most impact in the way with which their businesses operate, followed by the recourse to artificial intelligence and the transferability of digital information to machines.”

Mr Beckles, meanwhile, said he was less convinced by the IDB’s assertion that the findings revealed “a potentially binding constraint” for women-led businesses when it came to the ability to receive and send digital payments.

Some 43.25 percent of “female dominated” companies reported struggles in this area, as opposed to just 35 percent of companies headed by their male counterparts, despite 51 percent of women-led companies dedicating marketing resources to a digital media strategy.

However, pointing out that digital payments platforms and their providers are “not gender biased”, the Island Pay chief said it seemed a stretch for the IDB to make the leap to the conclusions it had reached. “I don’t understand how they connect the two,” he added.