Tern Eco: supporting SME retailers on their journey to circularity
Fully closing the loop through the development of a plug and play solution that supports multiple circular models—from reuse to resale.
United Kingdom
SkyEye: Supporting small businesses to identify new customers and sales opportunities
Using marketing analytics and transaction data to enable better decision making for MSEs to benefit from operational efficiencies and cost reductions
Samoa
Datasketch: Equipping Colombian small businesses with tools to harness the power of their own data
Using an AI-powered chatbot designed to deliver crucial information, along with charts and maps, directly via chat
Colombia
Africa 118: supporting small businesses in Ethiopia to be discovered online
Enhancing an innovative MSME Digital Presence Pack (DPP) in Ethiopia to add value for small businesses
Ethiopia
Vested Impact: empowering small businesses with the data they need to make change
Leveraging AI and 300M science-based and impact data points to automatically assess and quantify the non-financial impact of small businesses
Global
SoBanHang: Empowering nano and micro businesses to thrive on digital technology
A one-stop business OS enabling merchants to access market intelligence data and manage end-to-end cross border procurement effortlessly
Vietnam
Alner: Using a deposit-reward scheme to create a sustainable consumption loop
Strengthening small business resilience by supplying refillable products through an enhanced mobile app
Indonesia
FUNDES: Connecting artisans and craft merchants to the most appropriate digitization tools
Building the first online community where artisans and craft merchants can interact and learn from their peers and adopt essential digital solutions
Mexico
Boost Technology, Project IKE: Empowering retailers with insights to increase their resilience
Data analysis, behavioral science and conversational commerce provide retailers with insights about their business to drive improved outcomes
Nigeria
Open Contracting Partnership: Government contracts made accessible for small businesses
Using open data to seamlessly connect small businesses awarded government contracts with financial institutions who can offer them credit
Colombia
Flourish Fi: Data-driven nudges for improved money management
Behavioral science and AI-driven incentives and nudges help build healthy financial management habits
Brazil
ChatGenie: Making social commerce work better for small businesses
New features reduce friction for businesses selling on social media, and enable management of multiple channels within a single app
Philippines
Novek: IOT-enabled vending machines maximize sales for retailers
Tech-enabled vending machines dispensing household staples increase sales, reduce stock outs, and eliminate single-use plastic
Kenya
Stay up to date on our latest news, funding and partnership opportunities
Programs
Featured Program
Strive Women: Her Business, Her Financial Future
Supporting women entrepreneurs to grow their businesses, confidence, resilience, and control.
Pakistan, Peru, Vietnam
Idea Morph: Democratizing innovation for small businesses
A co-creation platform unlocking small businesses’ access to digital tools, bespoke support, and AI-driven insights to build better products.
Romania
Fagura: AI-powered credit scoring widget to enhance small business access to finance in Romania
Development and deployment of an AI-powered credit scoring widget to enable small businesses’ instant access to financing through real-time assessments and integration into partner platforms.
Romania
Porshi: supporting women entrepreneurs to become mobile micro-retailers.
Supporting women-led small businesses in Bangladesh by transforming them into last-mile distribution agents.
Bangladesh
Leveraging the benefits of AI for women-led small businesses in emerging markets
&frnds is working to ensure that the AI revolution is inclusive of even the smallest businesses across the value chain, using a human-centric approach in both the design and adoption of AI services. The program will initially be launched in the Philippines.
The Philippines
Nilus: Providing women-led retailers with trade credit to bolster food security
Unlocking access to credit for small businesses and low-income consumers in Buenos Aires and Mexico City
Argentina, Mexico
Ragna: AI sustainability advisor for small businesses
AI powered sustainability advice and guidance to ensure long term value creation and compliance with EU regulations for small businesses.
Sweden
IVÆKST: Supporting small businesses growth through AI adoption and optimization
Tailored assessments to drive small business success in AI adoption and optimization IVÆKST’s AI HUB.
Denmark
Lupasafe: Inclusive cybersecurity solution specifically designed for small businesses
Businesses using the Lupasafe Cyber Monitor get 24/7 cybersecurity insights to reduce risk and secure staff, finances, data, and reputation.
The Netherlands
Redamp.io: Redefining cybersecurity for small businesses to grow and become more resilient
Enabling small businesses to bolster their cybersecurity with an affordable, cloud-based and user-friendly platform.
Czech Republic
Cresco: Democratizing cybersecurity by supporting small businesses to understand and tackle their vulnerabilities.
Giving small businesses access to the technology and insights they need to protect their security against cyber threats
Belgium
Valerian: Access to capital for small businesses made as easy as one-click shopping
A friendly companion chatbot that leverages small business data to access on-demand capital.
Luxembourg
Direct Market: Connecting agricultural small businesses to buyers to digitize key food markets
Supporting small businesses to foster autonomous, sustainable and resilient food systems.
France
Bizcuit: Enabling small businesses to overcome daily financial management struggles and unlock access to credit
Enabling small businesses to manage their daily finances through their bank app, saving time, making informed decisions, and improving cash flow management
The Netherlands
tilt: Unlocking small businesses' access to finance and know-how to support a low-carbon transition
A data analytics solution that provides financial institutions with the required climate data to provide small businesses with the necessary funding and know-how.
Germany
It Goes Forward: Redesigning the e-commerce return process to reduce small businesses’ environmental impact and costs
Enabling small online retailers to resell return items directly between consumers, cutting warehouse costs and waste and reducing transport time for a positive environmental impact
The Netherlands
MayaSoft: Digitizing payments and unlocking credit for Uzbekistan’s small businesses
Empowering Uzbekistan’s micro and small businesses with innovative digital point-of-sale (POS) solutions, instant settlement, and improved access to finance.
Uzbekistan
Digital distribution and growth for small Spanish hotels
Expanding small hotels’ digital sales and access to finance, while leveraging AI to support decision making
Spain
EMPRO: Building the digital skills and financial resilience of Dominican women-led small businesses
Women entrepreneurs in the Dominican Republic will digitize their operations, unlock access to finance, and connect to new markets with bespoke digital training and mentorship.
Dominican Republic
Boost Capital: Boosting the digitalization of Filipino and Cambodian small businesses
Leveraging technology to enable access to capital, knowledge, and resources for Filipino and Cambodian small businesses, particularly women-led enterprises.
Philippines and Cambodia
VIQTORIA: Connecting small businesses in Ecuador with digital solutions that accelerate their transformation.
Connecting startups and women-led MSEs across Ecuador to cross-fertilize ideas and accelerate their digital transformation.
Ecuador
GO DIGITAL: Empowering women-led small businesses in Poland to grow through digitalization
Unlocking the potential of female entrepreneurs by connecting them to tailored digital tools and one-on-one support services
Poland
Tern Eco: supporting SME retailers on their journey to circularity
Fully closing the loop through the development of a plug and play solution that supports multiple circular models—from reuse to resale.
United Kingdom
SkyEye: Supporting small businesses to identify new customers and sales opportunities
Using marketing analytics and transaction data to enable better decision making for MSEs to benefit from operational efficiencies and cost reductions
Samoa
Datasketch: Equipping Colombian small businesses with tools to harness the power of their own data
Using an AI-powered chatbot designed to deliver crucial information, along with charts and maps, directly via chat
Colombia
Michael Miebach
CEO, Mastercard
“When small businesses thrive our local communities and economies thrive, but when they struggle, the impact is widespread. What small business owners need right now is partners who listen to them and develop innovative solutions that help them grow in the wake of the pandemic. That’s what makes programs like Strive so critical today and tomorrow.”
From the Blog
Featured Article
A new milestone for Strive Community: We’ve reached 5 million small businesses
Holding the reins on AI: Emerging lessons from small business solutions
Small but mighty: Driving digital inclusion and small business growth in Samoa
From Jakarta to Arkansas: How small businesses are supporting climate resilience and sustainability…
High tech, high touch: How community lenders use digital tools to stay personal with small…
When investing in digital solutions, how do community lenders whose business models center on trusted, direct connections with small businesses preserve their human touch points?
Nudging EU small businesses towards digital adoption: What role does their mindset play?
From tech to trust: How human connection opens the door for small business growth
From simulation to market: Learning by doing to improve skills for women small business owners
Built for all, built to last: Six shifts that could change the U.S. small business landscape for generations of entrepreneurs
Major gaps exist in the ecosystem that supports entrepreneurs in the U.S. on their journey from business inception to growth. We surveyed more than 30 small business leaders to uncover the most critical gaps holding entrepreneurs back and identified six key shifts needed to realize a vision where more entrepreneurs succeed over the long term — informing a strategy to create a stronger, more connected small business sector that expands access to capital, tools, and know-how, and leads to ongoing success for small businesses across the United States.
Funding creativity, fueling small business growth: Bridging the capital gap in the creative economy
Mastercard Strive USA recently convened a roundtable discussion on how to better support creative entrepreneurs, a small business segment that provides enormous value to local communities but faces unique and often steeper challenges compared to other types of small businesses.
Exploring the role of credit in social commerce for women micro-retailers
Deepening small business access to finance: the power of partnerships
Digitizing small hotels: The impact of Mastercard Strive and Connectycs in Spain
Building digital skills and enhancing access to finance for women-led small businesses
Building AI solutions for women micro-retailers: The missing ingredient for supporting their…
Improving small business outcomes through mental health: A profile on Our Village United’s holistic…
Our Village United's ELEVATE program was one of the first incubators in the United States to focus on wellness support for entrepreneurs. It quickly became a model by developing classes led by experts on how entrepreneurs could face emotional challenges, like burnout and imposter syndrome.
Putting digital enterprise transformation in the hands of Polish women: New insights from the GO…
Empowering Vietnamese small businesses through AI-enhanced procurement
Integrating artificial intelligence into small business digital onboarding: Wins and challenges
Leveraging data-driven public procurement for small business inclusion
From theory to practice to scale: Mastercard Strive USA’s impact on small businesses in year 2
Two years after launch, Mastercard Strive USA is working with 34 small business-focused organizations and building a program that is already more than a sum of parts. As of September 2024, the program had unlocked over $44 billion in capital, reached nearly one million small businesses, and engaged more than 682 small business intermediaries.
Embracing an abundance mindset in Kansas: How new collaborations are creating a stronger small…
The fifth Mastercard Strive USA Summit recently took place in Lawrence, Kansas in partnership with the Kansas Department of Commerce. The focus was on driving new small business-focused partnerships within Kansas as well as applying lessons learned from other regions to those collaborations.
New insights, real impacts: Introducing the 2024 update of the Mastercard Strive Small Business…
What Mastercard Strive is learning about digital solutions to improve access to finance for small…
Cybersecurity for small businesses: Understanding the costs, barriers, and opportunities
Insights
Behavioral science to drive market participation
Behavioral science involves understanding what influences behavior. It can be an effective ally for enabling small businesses to participate more effectively in digital marketplaces.
Women-centered models for last-mile distribution
For e-commerce providers, a women-centered approach to last-mile distribution is a promising model for empowering women sales agents and better connecting with women customers.
Social commerce
Micro- and small businesses worldwide increasingly utilize social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and TikTok as virtual storefronts, tapping into a growing global industry.
Consumer protection
Adopting digital financial services by small businesses can increase their access to finance and strengthen their financial inclusion. However, a lack of trust arising from consumer protection risks can limit the adoption process.
Financial services for women-owned small businesses
Globally, one in three businesses are owned by women, who often encounter obstacles in financing, owning, and growing a business. Digital financial services can have positive business and household impacts on women.
Embedded finance
Embedded finance allows small businesses to access financial services through digital interfaces with which they already interact, with the potential to offer faster access to timely and tailored products.
Measurement in a digital age
The pandemic challenged traditional approaches to monitoring, evaluation and learning systems for business support programs, presenting new opportunities for optimization, learning, and impact measurement.
Digitizing payments
Digitizing payments not only offers small businesses many benefits and efficiencies, it also provides positive spillover effects for their customers and suppliers, and strengthens financial inclusion efforts.
Digital insurance
Small businesses are often more vulnerable to risks and shocks compared to larger enterprises. Insurance can be critical to small businesses better absorbing financial shocks, building assets, and managing risks.
Access to finance
Access to finance is critical to small businesses’ development and growth, but few solutions account for their nuanced and diverse needs, resulting in a huge small business financing gap globally.
Enabling small businesses to grow by outsourcing
For small businesses who want to grow, hiring new staff is not the only option—they could also consider outsourcing. Outsourcing enables small businesses to strengthen and execute their operations and improve efficiency.
Digital peer networks to support small businesses
Peers can support fellow small business owners by sharing business practices, facilitating new connections, and offering tailored advice. 80% of small businesses believe interacting with peers improves their business outcomes.
Digital mentoring for small businesses
Mentoring offers relationship-based guidance from experienced business owners for small businesses to develop new skills and networks to support growth. Digital channels have increased the availability and convenience of mentoring.
Delivering digital training to small businesses
Training that is delivered to small businesses through digital channels is increasingly promising. It can integrate techniques that increase knowledge retention and user engagement, leading to positive impacts for small business capacity building.
Designing digital training for small businesses
Training programs that are delivered digitally show promise for small business owners with limited time to access key information when they need it. Digital training is convenient, cost-effective, and engaging, so long as it is designed well.
