Inclusive growth is about enabling prosperity while ensuring intergenerational equity and enhanced economic opportunities. According to the United Nations, eight out of the 17 sustainable development goals depend on our collective ability to make payments accessible, affordable and secure. In a recent study of 70 countries, increased use of digital payments added $245bn to real gross domestic product. The end goal is not financial inclusion but the inclusive growth opportunity that comes from leveraging partnerships (SDG17) to advance human progress.
At Visa, we see human progress through the eyes of Zarina in Kyrgyzstan and Mariem in Morocco. Zarina trades at the Dordoi Bazaar in Kyrgyzstan where, in 2023, only 10% of its 60,000 merchants had a bank account. Enabling the acceptance of digital payments through the Dordoi Association and New Market Technologies assists small merchants in digitialising with tap-to-phone technology and Visa business cards to bring merchants closer to their customers.
In Morocco, Neolli – a digital marketplace platform – provides an opportunity for 2.5m artisans, comprising 30% of the workforce and contributing 7% to Morocco’s GDP, to access the digital economy. This is especially true for women, who represent 80% of artisans in Morocco.
Building trust and changing behaviour
Trust is a fundamental ingredient of financial inclusion. Without it, we are unlikely to adopt certain habits and services. Visa equates trust with cybersecurity, ensuring that individuals and small and medium-sized businesses can access financial services in a safe and secure manner. It is trust that changes the behaviour required to succeed in the digital economy.
In 2016, when I joined the private sector, I witnessed the impact of trust in turning the tide of HIV/AIDS, Ebola in West Africa and other diseases stunting growth and prosperity. Ultimately, building consumer trust in the digital economy, and in health, requires developing systems, products and services protecting consumers’ data, money and identity.
As such, through partnerships, we enable behaviour changes by building trust in digital payments. For example, in 2022, when ThriveAgric won the Visa Everywhere Initiative – a global innovation programme that challenges startups and entrepreneurs to solve payment and commerce challenges – it continued to change the behaviour of 500,000 individuals with access to digital financial services. In digitialising traditional farming in Nigeria, this fintech is changing the way farmers integrate payments into their value chain.
Further afield, in Bangladesh, our work with government, financial institutions and communities allowed cattle farmers to no longer pay the price for counterfeit notes maliciously inserted by clients. Trust in digital payments has the power to transform lives through financial inclusion and enhancing the sense of belonging.
In Nigeria and Bangladesh, financial inclusion plays a critical role in eradicating poverty (SDG1) and promoting economic growth and jobs (SDG8). Research from the Visa Economic Empowerment Institute also found that, in Nigeria, digital payments can help to improve access and affordability in healthcare (SDG3).
Ultimately, individuals connect to small businesses not only through payments but also through logistics. Our collaboration with the post offices across the African continent, for example, will allow not only payments to be enhanced but facilitate the movement of goods for SMBs, extending opportunities for urban, peri-urban and rural areas to enable their prosperity.
Inclusive growth rests on partnerships and we are committed to uplift everyone, everywhere, to participate in the global economy with every little step they take.
Carl Manlan is Vice President, Inclusive Impact & Sustainability for Visa Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa at Visa.
