Photo Caption- From left: Rushio Billings, CEO and co-founder of GiftMe, and Horace Hines, General Manager of JN Money Services Limited, sign the contract for the new JN Money/GiftMe partnership while Rashidi Thomas (right), COO and co-founder of GiftMe and Sanya Wallace (standing behind), assistant general manager for strategy, marketing and sales at JN Money Services Limited, look on.
In a bid to provide Jamaicans in the Diaspora with an alternate way to connect with loved ones back home, Jamaican-owned, global remittance brand, JN Money, and GiftMe, a Jamaican digital card marketplace, have partnered to allow persons to send e-gift cards to their loved ones in Jamaica.
Come May, persons will be able to walk into a JN Money branch in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Cayman, and purchase a GiftMe e-gift card for their friends and family in Jamaica. Customers in the Diaspora can also log on to jnmoneyonline.com from the comfort of wherever they are, select the GiftMe option and purchase conveniently with their debit card.
GiftMe allows persons to purchase e-gift cards that can be used at over 350 merchants across Jamaica, including fan favourites such as Fontana, Azans, Island Grill, Starbucks, Mothers, Palace Amusement, Fesco, Devon House and many more. They can either buy it for one of the specific merchants or they can opt to purchase a GiftMe card and the receiver uses it at a participating merchant of their choice.
General Manager of JN Money Services, Horace Hines, says the partnership will enrich the experience for their customers by introducing Jamaicans locally and overseas to an alternative means of sending and receiving gifts among family and friends for specific purposes.
“We have been helping Jamaicans and others around the world send funds to Jamaica for decades, and we welcome this partnership with GiftMe, which has been doing very well in Jamaica, to assist Jamaicans abroad with sending special gifts back home with ease and convenience,” he stated.
He pointed out that the partnership will be rolled out on a phased basis, starting with JN Money branches, before extending to the agent locations. However, persons will be able to access GiftMe gift cards via jnmoneyonline.com immediately and the service will be added to the JN Money mobile app in the near future.
Rushio Billings, CEO and co-founder of GiftMe, says the partnership with JN Money will provide a boost to local merchants giving them more direct access to the coveted diaspora market.
He was supported by COO and co-founder of GiftMe, Rashidi Thomas, who explained that access through JN Money will make it easier for persons in the Diaspora to purchase a gift card for someone in Jamaica.
“With this partnership and bringing that digital version of the gift card to the end user, they’ll be able to treat their friends and family here in Jamaica. Based on JN Money’s reach in the Diaspora, it made it easier to just partner with them to offer these services to those persons overseas,” he explained.
Sanya Wallace, assistant general manager for strategy, marketing and sales at JN Money, says the collaboration will also provide an opportunity for persons abroad to send e-gift cards to their loved ones on special occasions.
“Outside of sending money to loved ones for everyday expenses, persons can now send special gift cards for lunch, spa treatments, to purchase furniture or any ‘sweetener’ from the wide range of other services and items GiftMe offers – for birthdays, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Christmas or just a special treat to stay connected to loved ones in Jamaica, she said.
Mr Thomas added that he expects that the partnership will allow the two entities to grow together and enrich the customer experience for senders and receivers.
He noted that GiftMe has managed to build out “a very robust merchant footprint across the island,” partnering with over 350 popular merchants; and over 400 companies in Jamaica which uses their services for rewards and recognition, for almost three years.
JN Money, on the other hand, currently gives persons the option to send money for cash pickup, to bank accounts in Jamaica or to the JN Money card, as well as pay bills in Jamaica. Customers also have the option to send mobile minutes to networks such as Digicel and Flow. JN Money operates through some 8,000 branches and agents in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Cayman Islands and the Philippines.
