The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth is dedicated to advancing equitable economic growth by leveraging data, technology, and partnerships to empower underserved communities. Discover the social impact initiatives that Mastercard has been actively developing. This page highlights key insights into their community-focused projects and sustainable development efforts.

Resources from Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth

The partnership between Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth and Common Cents Lab aims to enhance financial resilience for digital platform workers and entrepreneurs in Latin America. By employing behavioral science strategies, the initiative focuses on increasing savings, credit access, and earnings, reaching 180,000 users with the potential to impact 12.1 million. One key intervention, the introduction of default savings options, led to an increase in the use of savings pockets from 14% to 28%.
Financial Resilience
Behavioral Science
Digital Platforms
Financial Inclusion
Latin America
Credit Access
Savings
Financial Literacy
Gig Economy
Mastercard.
Mastercard's initiative, in partnership with Shell Foundation and Co-operative Bank of Kenya, seeks to empower off-grid African farmers by providing access to clean energy technologies. The program offers affordable credit for solar-powered irrigation, cold storage, and other technologies, which have the potential to increase yields by 40% and improve market access. The pilot is set to benefit 100,000 farmers, with interest rates reduced by six percentage points to make these technologies more accessible.
Clean Energy
African Farmers
Solar Irrigation
Sustainable Agriculture
Financial Inclusion
Mastercard
Shell Foundation
Digital Identity
Agricultural Innovation
Renewable Energy.
The report underscores persistent disparities in employment between people with and without disabilities across seven countries, despite the presence of progressive policies. Barriers such as poor employer attitudes and inadequate educational opportunities continue to hinder inclusive employment. The report recommends strategies including skills development, microfinance, and disability sensitization, along with addressing data gaps for effective policy implementation. Significant educational disparities are highlighted, with 11-61% of children with disabilities out of school and up to 25% fewer people with disabilities completing primary school compared to their non-disabled peers. Additionally, disparities in NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) rates persist between disabled and non-disabled youth.
Disability-inclusive employment
Employment barriers for disabled
Disability employment disparities
Inclusive education for disabled
Skills development for disabled youth
Disability sensitization programs
NEET rates disabilities
Disability policy implementation
Disability employment data gaps
Employer attitudes disabilities
The "Striving to Thrive" report highlights the Mastercard Strive Indonesia initiative, which aims to empower 300,000 micro and small enterprises (MSEs) by 2025 through digitalization, access to credit, and ecosystem strengthening. The program focuses on overcoming barriers such as limited digital skills and access to finance, especially for women-led businesses. In Indonesia, 64 million small businesses contribute 61% of the country's GDP and employ 93% of the workforce. However, 66% of MSEs did not access any support services in the past 12 months, and 50% of these businesses are women-led.
Micro and Small Enterprises
Digitalization
Financial Inclusion
Women Entrepreneurs
Mastercard Strive Indonesia
Economic Growth
Digital Skills
Access to Credit
Indonesian Economy
Small Business Support.
The Mastercard 2023 ESG Report emphasizes the company's dedication to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions, achieving gender pay equity, and enhancing financial inclusion. Key achievements highlighted in the report include a 41% reduction in total Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions since 2016, achieving 96.4% gender pay equity, and connecting 870 million people to the digital economy since 2015. Additionally, Mastercard has funded the planting of 17 million trees through the Priceless Planet Coalition.
ESG
Mastercard
Sustainability
Net Zero
Financial Inclusion
Gender Pay Equity
Renewable Energy
Digital Economy
Environmental Impact
Diversity and Inclusion.