Stripe Atlas: a solution for digital entrepreneurs

Maldivian entrepreneurs in the tech space have long lamented the inability of Maldivian banks to receive payments via PayPal. Some have resorted to alternatives like Payoneer and successfully managed to receive payments from abroad.

But PayPal being the de facto payment for many online transactions, the inability to receive funds has been crippling for many aspiring businesses. Medium to large corporations have been able to maneuver with overseas accounts and companies incorporated in places like the British Virgin Islands. But this is no small feat for any entrepreneur without the means to set such a complicated payments structure abroad.

The e-citizenship offered by Estonia also allows digital entrepreneurs to set up businesses and bank accounts in Estonia, to set up a full fledged online business. But this also requires any Maldivian online business to make a trip to New Delhi to collect e-citizenship documents from the Estonian embassy in India. Again, a sizeable barrier to entry for a startup.

At long last, there is a workable solution. For about a 1000 USD, Stripe Atlas allows you to set up a company in Delaware, USA and a bank account in Silicon Valley Bank just by a few clicks. No trip to the US required.  Any Maldivian can now set it up and create an online store on a platform like Shopify that allows you to outsource inventory and drop ship the merchandise any where in the world.

For example, if you have designs for t shirts, tote bags, mugs, towels or even shoes, you can set up a Shopify account, imprint your designs on to their range of products. There is no need to have an inventory since the outsource partners on Shopify like Printful and Printify print your products on orders and ship them out to your customer. Payments can be made to your Silicon Valley bank account via PayPal.

So the future is bright for Maldivian businesses that want to expand globally. There are so many artisanal products that have the potential to scale. The wonderfully curated collection at retail outlets like Island Bazaar and Toddy bare testament to this fact. We are looking forward to seeing Maldivian businesses capture global audiences and scale and break the glass ceilings created by our relative obscurity.