Mastercard joined US Vice President Kamala Harris for a roundtable
discussion in Zambian capital, Lusaka, where she issued a call to
action to public and private sector leaders to invest
in national financial inclusion strategies to close the
digital divide across the continent.
Only an estimated 33% of the population
in Africa use the internet and only 55% in
Sub-Saharan Africa have official proof of identity, meaning the remainder of
the population are not realizing digital dividends.
Mastercard called for a rethink of current approaches to Africa’s digital
divide, drawing attention to partnerships which are at the heart of its Africa
strategy. It highlighted the power of technology and innovation to connect
everyone to the digital economy, enabling service delivery across diverse
sectors, and driving economic growth.
Underpinned by its pledge to globally connect 1 billion people to the
digital economy by 2025, Mastercard is going beyond its core business of
connecting people and businesses to payments, by creating new businesses that
enable not just financial inclusion but also digital inclusion.
Mark Elliott, Mastercard’s Division President of Sub-Saharan Africa,
cited the example of Community Pass, a digital
platform designed to address infrastructure challenges that arise in digitizing
rural communities, such as unreliable connectivity, low smartphone ownership,
and lack of consistent identification or credentials.
“We are committed to register 30 million people to our Community Pass
platform by 2027, with a focus on registering 15 million people across Africa,
including women in underserved and remote communities, increasing their access
to digital commerce, agricultural markets, healthcare services, and
humanitarian benefits, by providing digital identities and a digital acceptance
network. To date, we have enabled 2.4 million individuals in Africa – mostly
smallholder farmers – to participate in the digital economy,” said Elliott.
Community Pass provides individuals a functional digital ID and digitizes
their life transactions, making them visible to a multitude of service
providers. For example, smallholder farmers can leverage Community Pass to
access a bigger pool of buyers, quality inputs, and credit to grow their
business. Across Africa, public and private sector organizations leverage
Community Pass to get farmers paid more and faster.
Community Pass was also referenced earlier this week in a fact sheet
launched by VP Harris on global initiatives focused on the economic empowerment
of women: Fact Sheet: Vice President Harris
Launches Global Initiatives on the Economic Empowerment of Women, Totaling over
$1 Billion.
