Visa has recently hosted the Visa Everywhere Initiative: Global Women’s Edition, for the first time dedicated to organizations around the world with at least one founding or co-founding woman who develops solutions to meet the existing social and business challenges globally.
Almost 1,300 organizations have applied to this program.
by Aurel Dragan for Business Review EU
The new global competition has highlighted the millions of women in business and social impact but under-represented, who have been tasked with solving a challenge in FinTech and – for the first time – Social Impact for the chance to win EUR 100,000 per challenge, as well as access to mentoring, Visa products and programs and exposure to key traders.
Even at the start of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2010 in France, 12 finalists from 6 regions presented their innovative solutions in front of a jury. Two finalists, Tez Financial Services in Pakistan, represented by co-founder Naureen Hyat, and Green Girls Organization in Cameroon, represented by founder Monique Ntumngia, have been declared winners of the two categories of competition: FinTech and Social Impact, respectively.
“As the share of women entrepreneurs grows worldwide, Visa gives a voice to the collective power of women that generates impact in the global economy, moving the driving wheel of bottom-up innovation – and we will continue to do so through investment and partnerships that give businesses founded by women can prosper, “said Marianne Mwaniki, Senior Social Impact Vice President at Visa. “All the finalists of this global edition of the Visa Everywhere Initiative are evidence of how diverse businesses owned by women can grow and can contribute to the economies of communities around the world. We want to offer them a platform that creates connections and opportunities to succeed.”
The Global Women’s Edition is an extension of the already existing Visa Everywhere Initiative (VEI) program and reflects Visa’s commitment to investing in female entrepreneurs. Since the beginning of the VEI program in 2015, over 6,000 start-ups have participated in 24 innovation programs and have accumulated over USD 2.5 billion in funding. This year, Visa expanded the competition to include a global challenge for organizations with at least one woman founder who could offer solutions to address the broad social and business challenges.