1.0.     INTRODUCTION

The "Fintech: The Indian Financial Sector Experience" webinar is a knowledge sharing initiative focused on best practices in the Fintech industry. The aims of the event are to i) Highlight Fintech tools that can help Jamaican financial sector firms scale and achieve greater financial inclusion ii) Compare Jamaican and Indian financial sectors to identify opportunities that can be leveraged for future business opportunities. This event will explore, among other areas, how the Indian financial sector has leveraged Fintech to drive innovation and financial inclusion, offering valuable insights for stakeholders in Jamaica's financial sector.

Annika S. Rowe MBA is an experienced Consultant with 25 years in diverse fields including Education, Disaster Management, and Finance. She is a skilled researcher, most recently serving as Jamaica Country Researcher for an NGO based in Bridgetown, Barbados. In her consulting practice, she also creates personalised acrostic poems for corporate and personal gifts, with proceeds benefiting charity. Annika is an internationally published writer and founder of the NGO Uncommon Arts, which she has led for 19 years, focusing on social impact and community development.

The joint venture webinar “Fintech: The Indian Financial Sector Experience” was conceptualised by Annika Simone Rowe, Consultant as a Jamaican financial sector industry knowledge sharing initiative exploring best practices in Fintech. Annika Simone Rowe MBA is an affiliate member of CFA Institute and CFA Society Jamaica. The Fintech webinar is a joint venture initiative with W3care Technologies, India. W3care Technologies Pvt. Ltd., is an IT firm specialising in customised software development and IT solutions for businesses worldwide. With approximately 15 years in the IT business, the company is meta-certified and has clientele in 15 countries. Among their client base is the prestigious Stanford University. W3care’s core objective is to deliver better solutions that rely on international standards while keeping costs affordable. The company acquired expertise in customising Fintech applications which is know-how that can add value to Jamaican financial sector stakeholders. 

2.0.    RATIONALE

Jamaica’s Prime Minister, The Most Honourable Andrew Michael Holness, recently had an inaugural visit to India which he labelled a “resounding success”. Prime Minister Holness stated in a Jamaica Observer article that “We are crafting a south – south partnership with India to accelerate our technological advancement to support our economic development.” (Jamaica Observer, 2024) The Prime Minister cited advantages to Jamaica’s financial sector as one of the benefits of his visit to India. India, being one of the most populous countries in the world, has found ways to create financial inclusion for its diverse population using Fintech.  The Indian finance industry is a large-scale industry and both India and Jamaica can benefit from the mutual knowledge sharing of best practices and information about financial market conditions in our respective countries. 

W3care Technologies is knowledgeable of some of the Fintech applications and other technology platforms that create the foundation for a profitable financial sector business in India. The rationale for this webinar is to share some of these Fintech tools with the Jamaican financial sector and explore some of the features that our financial markets have in common which can be leveraged for future business opportunities.

3.0.    EVENT DESCRIPTION

Title: “Fintech: The Indian Financial Sector Experience”
Date: December 7, 2024 at 9am-11am (Jamaica time zone)
Registration Link: https://spurropen.com/prm.php?vu=event&eid=18259&&curr=usd
Cost: US$35 for attendees (Register soon. Limited tickets available)

Featuring:

• Dr. Blossom O’Meally-Nelson, Chairman of JAMFIN, “Feature Address: Welcome and Greetings”

Presenter:

• Annika Simone Rowe MBA, Consultant “Comparative Sector Study of the Indian and Jamaican financial sectors”
• Mr Satya Prakash, CEO W3care Technologies “Fintech: The Indian Financial Sector Experience” Exploring Fintech best practices in Microfinance, Credit Unions, Banking, Investments, Accounting, Remittances Industries.

4.0.    AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
The webinar will provide a unique opportunity for organisations to access free 15-minute IT consultations with W3care Technologies where they can discuss IT needs and explore customised IT solutions to scale their businesses and increase their market share. For those who are part of the Jamaican and Indian Diaspora, the joint venture initiative also has a philanthropic element where organisations can choose to sponsor Jamaican and Indian students from non-traditional high schools and low-income students from colleges and universities to attend the event. The organisers wish to cultivate the next generation of finance and IT professionals and encourage females to enter the male-dominated fields of finance and IT by sponsoring disenfranchised students to participate in the event. Corporate entities which intend to be part of this philanthropic initiative, may contact the event organisers. 

 5.0.     CONTACT INFORMATION
Annika Simone Rowe Consultant’s consulting practice intersperses social impact as much as possible in business operations.  In addition to her current consulting work, she has been involved in the local and Caribbean regional NGO sector for over 20 years.  As such, she is willing to collaborate with other government agencies, corporate entities, donor agencies across the Caribbean and Indian Diaspora to successfully stage initiatives and programmes which can positively impact vulnerable populations - youth, the elderly, working mothers among others. Social entrepreneurship is embedded in the core values of her consulting practice and global initiatives that push humanity forward and solve social problems are among the social impact solutions engineered by Annika Simone Rowe Consultant in service to clients and client organisations. Annika Simone Rowe Consultant can be reached at  https://www.linkedin.com/company/w3caretech  |  https://www.facebook.com/w3care/ . We would also appreciate the opportunity to discuss proposed projects.