E-Business
COVID-19 Response: Mastercard to Connect 1Bn People, 50m Small Businesses, 25 Million Women Entrepreneurs to the Digital Economy by 2025
The health and economic consequences of COVID-19 have highlighted the critical need to support vulnerable populations, many of whom are disproportionately impacted.
In this time of global crisis, Mastercard has expanded its worldwide commitment to financial inclusion, pledging to bring a total of 1 billion people and 50 million micro and small businesses into the digital economy by 2025.
As part of this effort, there will be a direct focus on providing 25 million women entrepreneurs with solutions that can help them grow their businesses.
The extended commitment builds on Mastercard’s ongoing efforts to address the COVID-19 related health and economic challenges facing individuals all over the world, including in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Raghav Prasad, Mastercard’s Division President for Sub-Saharan Africa, “Financial inclusion remains key to unlocking the potential of Sub-Saharan Africa, and will become crucial as we support Governments in driving long-term, sustainable economic recovery.
“Digital transactions are both safe and efficient and giving access to these for as many people as possible, is an important part of supporting the most vulnerable parts of the population through the current situation.
“Our focus right now – beyond philanthropy – is to steadfastly continue collaborating with governments and private sector partners on solutions that are safe, viable, and most importantly, socially impactful for communities across the region.”
At the 2015 Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group, Mastercard committed to bring 500 million excluded individuals into the financial system. It achieved that goal through more than 350 innovative programs across 80 countries.
The Mastercard Lab for Financial Inclusion – the technology company’s first lab focused on financial inclusion – is committed to empowering millions of Africans through the use of public-private partnerships, and the innovation of locally relevant technology solutions.
One such solution is the Mastercard Farmer Network, a mobile platform that improves market access, increases price transparency and digitizes payments to connect small farmers in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
East Africa is also served by Kasha, an e-commerce platform optimized for women’s health and personal care. It offers confidential and convenient service, online/offline digital ordering and delivery to both urban and low-income rural areas.
In Uganda, Mastercard launched Kupaa in partnership with UNICEF Uganda and the country’s Ministry of Education. It enables parents and caregivers to pay school fees and other school expenses with their mobile phones securely, easily, and in small payments when they are able, easing the burden of lump sum payments.
Mastercard also expanded its partnership with Unilever to create Jaza Duka (fill up your store) – a digital program for micro-merchants in Kenya with more than 18,000 duka owners already registered.
The program provides a micro-credit eligibility recommendation to Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), which can then assess a retailer’s credit worthiness and extend credit for stock purchases.
Additional efforts include ongoing work on government disbursement solutions, wage digitization of private sector workers, solutions for gig workers, scaling efforts with fintechs, digital platforms and digital wallets/apps, solutions addressing needs of the financially vulnerable and the expansion of CityKey and Community Pass programs.
This announcement builds on Mastercard’s ongoing efforts to support an inclusive recovery by leveraging the company’s technology, capabilities and reach.
That work includes:
- In the first weeks of the global health crisis, Mastercard committed up to $25 million in seed funding to establish the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome, The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and others to help speed up the response to the COVID-19 epidemic by discovering, developing and scaling-up treatments for deployment around the world.
- Mastercard has committed $250 million in financial, technology, product and services support over the next five years to small businesses in many markets where it operates, supporting the vitality of businesses and the financial security of their workers.
- Mastercard is leveraging its network to provide support to governments around the world in a range of areas. This includes providing data insights to inform policymakers about the economic impact of the pandemic; increasing the speed and efficacy of aid disbursements to communities and business segments that need it most; developing donation platforms to enable emergency fundraising; and working with governments to assist business owners and consumers with cyber vulnerability assessments.
South Korean authorities have temporarily blocked new downloads of the DeepSeek artificial intelligence (AI) app, citing concerns over the company’s handling of user data.
The country’s Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) announced the decision on Monday, saying that the Chinese AI startup had failed to fully comply with South Korea’s data protection laws.
According to PIPC, DeepSeek recently appointed legal representatives in South Korea and admitted to partially neglecting regulatory considerations regarding user privacy.
“The Chinese startup appointed legal representatives last week in South Korea and had acknowledged partially neglecting considerations of the country’s data protection law,” the PIPC said.
The commission added that the app’s service would resume once the company implements improvements in accordance with national privacy laws.
According to Reuters, when asked about South Korea’s move, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry said the Chinese government prioritises data privacy and security, ensuring compliance with legal standards.
The spokesperson also said China does not require companies or individuals to collect or store data in violation of laws.
The ban follows similar actions by other governments.
On February 4, Australia prohibited the use of DeepSeek on government devices due to security concerns.
Italy’s privacy regulator recently blocked the AI service, citing the company’s failure to address data policy issues.
Taiwan has also warned about potential risks related to cross-border data transmission and information leaks.
Also, regulators in Ireland and France have launched investigations into DeepSeek’s data-handling practices.
DeepSeek gained global adoption for its advanced human-like reasoning capabilities and open-source model.
In January, it surpassed OpenAI’s Chatgpt as the most downloaded free app on the Apple store.
The African Union (AU) has officially designated Nigeria as the Digital Trade Champion under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Digital Trade Protocol, citing the country’s leadership in digital enterprise and innovation.
The endorsement came at the 38th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government, which concluded on Sunday in Addis Ababa.
Nigeria’s proactive role in advancing the digital trade protocol, adopted in February 2024, was a key factor in the decision.
The AfCFTA Digital Trade Protocol encompasses eight annexes covering crucial areas such as rules of origin, digital identities, cross-border data transfers, online safety, and financial technology. The protocol is expected to provide a robust framework for Africa’s digital economy.
According to a statement issued on Monday by Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, former President of Niger Republic and AU AfCFTA Champion, Mahamadou Issoufou, praised Nigeria’s leadership, particularly for convening the Digital Economy Roundtable in January.
“No organization, region, or continent has negotiated or adopted such a comprehensive legal instrument on digital trade, positioning the African continent to benefit from the digital economy for innovation and job creation,” Issoufou said in his progress report to the AU Assembly.
He also highlighted Africa’s growing influence in digital innovation, particularly in mobile banking and financial technology, and noted that the protocol would create an enabling environment for young African entrepreneurs.
“The AfCFTA Protocol on Digital Trade will establish a conducive environment for these young people to fully participate in Africa’s digital economy,” Issoufou added.
Reflecting on the roundtable in Abuja, he commended President Bola Tinubu and his administration for facilitating discussions with key stakeholders.
“The Roundtable was attended by young pioneers in Fintech, mobile banking and other areas of the digital economy. It was evident from the discussions that young people are eager to take advantage of Africa’s digital economy through the AfCFTA Protocol on Digital Trade”, he said.
Speaking at the AU summit, Nigeria’s Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, described the AU’s endorsement as a milestone in Africa’s economic development.
“Africa has demonstrated global leadership by pioneering the first-of-its-kind AfCFTA Protocol on Digital Trade—establishing a comprehensive regulatory framework,” Dr. Oduwole stated.
She emphasized that the protocol is a “game changer” for the continent, predicting that it would generate millions of jobs, contribute billions to Africa’s GDP, and attract significant investments in digital infrastructure.
Eric Schmidt, former Google CEO has expressed concerns about the extreme risks posed by artificial intelligence (AI) falling into the hands of terrorists or rogue states.
Eric Schmidt, former Google CEO
He warned that nations such as North Korea, Iran, and Russia could adopt AI technologies to develop weapons capable of causing significant harm, including biological weapons.
Schmidt urged governments to oversee private tech companies, emphasising, “The real fears I have are not the ones most people discuss about AI, I talk about extreme risk.”
“I’m always worried about an ‘Osama Bin Laden’ scenario, where truly evil individuals take control of some aspect of modern life to harm innocent people,” he added.
With private companies driving AI advancements, he stressed the need for careful government monitoring and regulation. “It’s really important that governments understand what we’re doing and keep their eye on us,” he said.
His remarks followed a two-day AI summit in Paris, where the UK and the U.S. declined to sign a communiqué outlining the future direction of AI. The declaration on “inclusive and sustainable artificial intelligence for people and the planet” was endorsed by 57 countries, including India, China, the Vatican, the EU, and the African Union Commission.
The UK justified its decision, stating that the agreement lacked “practical clarity” on global AI governance and national security concerns.
Schmidt supports U.S. export controls restricting the sale of advanced AI microchips to certain countries, aiming to slow adversaries’ progress in AI research.
He also highlights the importance of international collaboration on AI safety, suggesting that cooperation with nations like China is essential to addressing global AI challenges.
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