As Barbados moves towards its 60th anniversary of Independence, Government is rolling out a suite of financial and business services to coincide with the celebrations.
London-based, African-run Tapready has announced that a payments service using WhatsApp is being aligned with the rescheduled launch of BiMPay on June 12. BiMPay is a national app-based payments system being instituted by the Central Bank of Barbados.
Speaking at the recent Possibilities Summit 2026 conference organised by the Ministry of Innovation, Industry, Science and Technology (MIST), chief executive officer of Tapready, Gideon Mojolaoluwa, promised Barbadians they would be able to pay their bills in 80 seconds on WhatsApp.
“You can pay all your bills by WhatsApp,” he told an audience of local and international entrepreneurs and business representatives at Hotel Indigo in Hastings, Christ Church.
Mojolaoluwa said registration via the app will involve an individual’s digital ID. The service will be known as “MyGovPay” which has an artificial intelligence (AI) platform. It was reported to be trained on a Barbadian accent and will allow for payments via a voice note.
Another project showcased is an interactive heritage site which will, among other things, educate children and adults about their slave history, is a Barbadian project which was announced by Chereda Grannum. Titled Reclaiming Our Atlantic Destiny (ROAD), it involves preserving and digitising millions of land, civil, police, business and archival records.
Meanwhile, Haseley Straughn, a technical officer in MIST, introduced Novafund, an agentic AI platform built in association with Kristian Payne which is designed to enhance Government’s financial management.
Straughn spoke about the data governance value of the project, the capability to update Government spending at the ministry daily, matched with budgeting and modernisation and updating of Government emails.
Chief executive officer (CEO) of Hollnym, Shady Aldamaty, spoke of TridentGold, a suite of 60 citizen services which will be available prior to the November 30 Independence celebrations. These services will be built in association with the Trident ID. Aldamaty demonstrated the first of 60 services, the ZKP encrypted mobile passport.
Kate Kallcot, who heads AMINI, reported on a “government as a service” artificial intelligence assistant, Chatbb, with plans for a 5.6 megawatt data centre, and proposals to have a private 6G network up and running prior to Independence Day.
CEO of Export Barbados Mark Hill spoke in detail about the Green Industrial Gateway Advantage (GIGA) project and a GIGA school Government is setting up. The project aims to establish Barbados as a global hub for hi-tech, green and sustainable manufacturing.
An AI procurement platform, under a Supernova partnership involving the University of the West Indies, was presented by Je-Meila Moseley.
“We are excited about the future,” Minister of Innovation, Industry, Science and Technology, Senator Jonathan Reid, told the audience.
(HH)
