Women MSMEs: Visa and its non-profit initiative Visa Foundation on Thursday announced a $100 million pledge to support underserved and women-led micro and small businesses in APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) economies over five years. The digital payments company also launched a new initiative to boost the digital enablement of underserved micro and small businesses in the US and over 15 developing economies with an initial focus on APEC economies including Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, and Vietnam.
The announcements were made as part of the APEC Forum Economic Leaders and CEO Summit hosted by the US.
Small businesses represent about 90 per cent of total businesses and over 50 per cent of employment worldwide. The $100 million pledge over five years will advance digital financial inclusion, stimulate job creation, and increase access to capital to drive economic mobility, Visa said.
On the other hand, with its new SMB (small and micro business) accelerator initiatives in the United States and more than 15 developing economies, Visa said it will prioritize economies that have clear digital development needs and where cash still accounts for the majority of the ways businesses and individuals buy and sell and much of the population does not have access to digital payments.
“Small businesses are anything but small to Visa. Over the past three years, we’ve seen them shift from leveraging digital payments to survive, to now harnessing the power of digital to improve efficiency and reach new customers,” said Alfred F. Kelly, Jr., Executive Chairman, Visa and Co-Chair, APEC CEO Summit 2023. “Visa is committed to continue expanding equitable access and extending digitization for underserved and women-led SMBs globally so that payments can truly be a catalyst for growth,” he added.
Visa said that it has exceeded its three-year goal of digitally enabling 50 million micro and small businesses globally by June 2023 and has now helped nearly 67 million micro and small businesses meet their evolving payment needs, focusing on digitizing more ways to be paid by customers, ways to pay for supplies, goods and services, and providing access to financial skills through training and education.
Of the nearly 67 million, around 29.6 million micro and small businesses were from countries in the APEC region, including 10.9 million women-led micro and small businesses.
In July this year, Visa had launched its She’s Next initiative in India, part of Visa’s global grants programme, to support women entrepreneurs in growing and funding their ventures with networking, mentoring, and funding opportunities with Visa.
In 2022, Visa had committed $1 million to United Way Mumbai (UWM) to support at least 8,500 women-owned and women-focused businesses across 170 villages in four states.