An initiative called Project Kirana, launched by Mastercard and its partners, helped Renu adopt digital payments, creating the formal transaction history that would show her business was booming.
The COVID-19 pandemic dealt a heavy blow to small businesses, but a silver lining emerged amidst the shuttering of storefronts: a clearer understanding of the types of support small businesses need to survive, grow and compete in today’s digital economy.
The Mastercard Newsroom spoke to Franco to learn how the Inclusive Growth Score has evolved, how the new report can help leaders better understand the factors that drive equity and what’s next.
After many years of little progress, we’re finally narrowing the gender gap in financial account ownership. According to the most recent Findex, the gap narrowed from 9 percent to 6 percent across developing economies as more women gained access to financial tools.
About 2,700 policymakers, finance and tech leaders, celebrities, journalists, academics and activists gathered at Davos to debate topics such as deglobalization, decarbonization, distrust and digitization under the theme of “Cooperation in a Fragmented World.”
Through CARE’s Ignite Program – a partnership with the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth – Thao was able to obtain affordable financing through the programme’s access to essential digital tools and training, which helped her expand her business to online sales.
My company, like many others, believes that there’s great promise in blockchain technology to build more efficient financial instruments and payments systems. But none of it is possible without trust first.