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Small Business Success

Press Releases

May 1, 2018

Mastercard and Unilever Break Down Barriers to Growth for Micro Entrepreneurs with First-of-its-Kind Digital Lending Platform

Mastercard and Unilever today announced that they will expand their strategic partnership to help micro entrepreneurs in Africa and other regions overcome the cash constraints...

 

FEBRUARY 28, 2018

Mastercard Uses Facebook Messenger To Help Small Businesses Go Digital

Launches Masterpass QR bot for Messenger to enable Nigerian businesses to set up digital money accounts and accept QR payments

 

January 24, 2018

Mastercard Supports Today’s Gig and Changing Workforce

Launches the Inclusive Futures Project; Partners with Digital Companies for Gig and On-Demand Workers 

News Briefs

Blog
How Small and Medium Sized Businesses Can Go Big in Trade

Small and Medium enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of the world’s economy, yet they remain largely ignored by the industry and governments when it comes to developing new technology solutions or policies for global trade.
Blog
How Real-Time Payments Is Empowering Thailand’s Small Businesses And Entrepreneurs

With PromptPay, micro-businesses can accept payment for their services or goods via their mobile phones without having to accept cash on delivery.

Videos

Jaza Duka

With Jaza Duka, Mastercard and Unilever are expanding their strategic partnership to help micro entrepreneurs in Africa and other regions overcome the cash constraints that limit their ability to buy and sell more products and ultimately grow their businesses.

 

 

 

Every Week is Small Business Week

In celebration of National Small Business Week, Ginger Siegel, North American Small Business Lead, and Jay Singer, Global Small Business Lead, talk about the work Mastercard is doing to empower small businesses throughout the year. Learn more at mastercardbiz.com.

 

 

PromptPay

With PromptPay, micro-businesses can accept payment for their services or goods via their mobile phones without having to accept cash on delivery. It provides a safe and secure way to pay and get paid and also eliminates transaction fees on what often turns out to be low-value purchases –this is especially valuable to low-income users. For those wanting to start their own business, PromptPay provides them with the reassurance that there’s a way to get paid with very little risk attached.

 

 

Masterpass QR in action – Cake City

Sally Mwasaru, has been Manager at Cake City in Nairobi, Kenya since November 2012 Cake City and the store has made tremendous growth and in a span of few months grasped all the cake lovers. They have introduced new innovative cashless payment solutions such as Masterpass QR to make it easier for their customers. Her ambition is to serve and many have seen them grow from one humble branch to five branches so far and still growing.

 

 

Andrea Jung & Gina Harman on the Importance of Public-Private Partnerships

Mastercard hosted two of the most influential women in microfinance, Andrea Jung, President & CEO of Grameen America, Inc. and Gina Harman, CEO of U.S. Network Accion, to talk about women's economic empowerment, the challenges female entrepreneurs face and more. Watch now.

 

 

David Jackson Kileo: Kionect Launches for Nairobi’s Smallest Shopkeepers

Kaka is a new, young kiosk owner who opened his store 7-8 months. After finishing his school, he decided he wanted to be an entrepreneur. From his beaming smile, you know he is quite proud of it. Kaka has used Kionect and so far has been calling-in his orders. The biggest value he finds in Kionect is that once he places his order, he gets an SMS confirming it and telling him exactly how much he owes for his orders. “Previously there was no way of knowing how much I owe till the order was brought to me and in some cases I had to send it back as I didn’t have enough money with me,” says Kaka. Knowing how much I owe helps me plan better for the day to day. Kaka still does all his transactions in cash and is not sure whether he would want a loan but is open to learning more on how loans can help him. When we told Kaka that we were bringing SMS ordering to Kionect he was all excited to try and he was happy that these messages would be free and not cost him minutes. “I will try it over the weekend before you visit me again,” he told us. “I like using technology.”

 

 

Edi Mbaiga: Kionect Launches for Nairobi’s Smallest Shopkeepers

A single mother of two, to Edi her shop is the lifeline for her family. “This shop is everything to me,” she said. “Everything for my two kids and my father, who I take care of comes from here.” The shop that Edi owns is a tiny shack from where she sells fruits, vegetables, dried fish and every-day things like flour, soap and detergent. She started taking care of the shop seven years back. “I was born into business,” she says as her little store has handed over to her from her father. She is a stone’s throw away from her wholesaler, Kaskazi and it is easy for her to pick up what she needs but her day to day dealings is run with cash because she feels it is easy. She had previously taken financial help from M-Shwari, M-Pesa personal loan but found it hard to manage with her father falling ill at the same time. For her day to day needs she sometimes turns to her father for loans. When we asked Edi what her plan is for her business, she said she would like to expand her store. “There is no space to add to the store front but I do have an area at the back that I can expand to.” She is waiting for the right time to do that and she would be willing to take a loan from the bank. With Kionect’s SMS ordering and the launch of the loan program with Musoni, Edi can hope to expand her business and also put away her cash for simple things like having extra for food and paying school fees for her children.