Browsing: Mastercard

• The Entrepreneur’s Odyssey is a mobile and tablet-friendly, a self-paced curriculum that includes online lessons across 21 modules with a total of 28 videos of approximately 20-30 minutes each
• Its launch comes at a time when the small business segment in the region has faced unprecedented changes in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, further fueled by the rapid acceleration of digital transformation and e-commerce

Mastercard Academy has launched ‘The Entrepreneur’s Odyssey’, a digital education platform that brings together a range of world-class academic and business resources to help small businesses learn and thrive.

The Entrepreneur’s Odyssey is a mobile and tablet-friendly, self-paced curriculum that includes online lessons across 21 modules with a total of 28 videos of approximately 20-30 minutes each.

According to Mastercard, the platform follows a five-pathway approach which is open to all aspiring and established entrepreneurs with no limits on the number of viewers and is …

• Mastercard Impact Fund has committed a initial philanthropic investment of $25 million 
• The company said small business owners are currently in need of innovative solutions
• It builds on Mastercard’s $250 million commitment to support small businesses’ financial security made last year

Mastercard, through the Center for Inclusive Growth, has launched a new program dubbed ‘Strive’, to strengthen the financial resilience of small businesses as well as support their recovery and growth.

In a statement, the company said the initiative, which is global, will help micro and small enterprises transition to using digital platforms and processes.

The technology company said the launch of the initiative comes at a time when there has been a rapid shift towards digital services, which was necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic.

An initial philanthropic investment of $25 million from the Mastercard Impact Fund has been committed to the initiative whose aim is to help more than …

Business confidence for Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) across most sectors is on the rise, according to the latest research by Mastercard.

The inaugural Mastercard Middle East and Africa (MEA) SME Confidence Index found that 76 percent of SMEs in the food, beverage and entertainment sector are optimistic about the next 12 months.

Confidence levels were highest among businesses in retail, closely followed by food, beverage and entertainment.

Forecasts in this sector are also positive, with 72 percent of SMEs projecting revenues that will either grow or hold steady. Almost half 47 percent are projecting an increase.

Access to training, skills and digitization key for future growth

As many regional economies gradually enter the normalization and growth phase, and social restrictions continue to ease, small and medium sized businesses in the MEA region’s food, beverage and entertainment sector have identified access to training and development support (55 percent), upskilling staff …

Alongside the investment, the Group and Mastercard have extended commercial agreements and signed a new commercial framework which will deepen their partnerships across numerous geographies and areas including card issuance, payment gateway, payment processing, merchant acceptance and remittance solutions, amongst others.
Following the announcement on 18 March 2021 of US$200m investment in AMC BV by TPG’s The Rise Fund, and the sale of the Group’s telecommunication towers companies in Madagascar and Malawi on 23 March 2021, the Transaction is a continuation of the Group’s pursuit of strategic asset monetisation and investment opportunities. …

Africa has more digital financial services deployments than any other region in the world, with almost half of the nearly 700 million individual users worldwide.…

The 8th Angel Fair Africa (AFA) will be held on 5th November 2020 in which the selected Africa tech ventures will pitch before a room of female and male investors.

The event gives entrepreneurs a chance to pitch their ideas to a host of investors from various sectors of the economy. This year’s AFA will be held virtually and it is only rightly so since the event is themed “The bold new normal in the new normal” doing deals in a virtual environment.

Having already amassed and distributed capital in the excess of USD 23 million in just 7 years since its inception in 2013, Angel Fair Africa has quickly gained popularity. The shortlisted finalists have been selected from various leading partners such as Google, Impact Hub Dakar, CTIC Dakar, MEST Africa, StartupBootcamp Africa, Viable, Adei Institute and iHub.

https://theexchange.africa/industry-and-trade/telcos/mastercard-vodacom-ink-a-cashless-system-deal/

With emphasis on gender balance in its representation of …

The Mastercard Foundation’ Komeza program is gaining momentum and Rwanda, the fastest growing economy in East Africa, is not about to be left behind.

Equity Bank of Rwanda as announced that it will be partnering with Rwanda’s Entrepreneurial Solutions Partners (ESP) under the Komeza program to stimulate recovery from the negative effects of Covid-19.

Komeza is the brainchild of Entrepreneurial Solutions Partners (ESP) which has won support of Mastercard’s ongoing USD2.5 million MasterCard Foundation COVID-19 Recovery and Resilience Program. The Mastercard program is designed to support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) specifically in the Tourism and Hospitality sector.

Under the program, with Equity Bank Rwanda PLC as the financing partner, ESP will provide both financial support and technical assistance to 120 SMEs that operate within the Tourism and Hospitality sector.

Over the next year, the Komeza program will provide technical assistance and financing of up to USD50000 to each qualifying …

Ethiopia’s Jobs Creation Commission has partnered with the MasterCard Foundation to conduct a US$11.8 million job creation initiative dubbed Enabling Ethiopia.

 The five-year project is meant to serve as one of the country’s implementing tools for Ethiopia’s Plan of Action for Job Creation (PAJC – 2020-2025). The project aims at fostering innovation, policy reform, inclusiveness and advocacy.

The ambitious project looks to create some 14 million jobs by 2025 by creating an entrepreneurial ecosystem, cultivating the necessary human capital, adopting pro-job macro policies, and supporting inclusive innovations; these are just some of the major focus areas of this long-term plan.

The goal is to have a private sector-led economy that is coordinated and supported by the government.  The project aims to support the adoption of job-rich macro policies and the implementation of innovative job creation programs.

To achieve this, the initiative acknowledges the need to build capacity of implementing …

Many companies are thus rushing to claim a share of this market as the global banking industry earnings shrink.…