MasterCard Labs for Financial Inclusion, a global research and development division of MasterCard, a US-based payments and technology company, has recently convened LaunchPad, its first “collaborative innovation program”[1] in Nairobi, Kenya. The event brought together stakeholders of the agricultural sector in East Africa and served as a platform to create and present an agricultural strategy for smallholder farmers in Kenya. Participants identified three focus areas for the sector: (1) “client registration and aggregation;” (2) “transactions and multiple channels of payments” and (3) facilitating access to microfinance for farmers [1]. The priorities were selected to ensure financial inclusion of Kenyan smallholder farmers and to “help them to sustain their farms and enhance their livelihoods”[2].
As of June 2015, MasterCard reported total assets of USD 15.3 billion and 2.2 billion payment cards in circulation. The objective of MasterCard Labs is to improve the lives of 100 million low-income people by offering “cost-effective financial tools”[1].
By Alíz Crowley, Research Associate
About MasterCard
Headquartered in the US city of Purchase, New York, MasterCard is a payments and technology company that connects consumers, financial institutions, merchants and governments in approximately 210 countries and territories. As of June 2015, MasterCard reported total assets of USD 15.3 billion and 2.2 billion payment cards in circulation.
Sources and Additional Resources
[1] Pymnts.com, MasterCard Helps Kenyan Farmers Access Capital
[2] MasterCard, Newsroom, MasterCard Labs Brings New Solutions to Smallholder Farmers in Kenya
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