Staff Reporter
New research has highlighted the important role of government support in helping small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across the Pakistan, Middle East and Africa (MEA) to recover, position for growth, and contribute to economic prosperity.
In the inaugural Mastercard MEA SME Confidence Index, government support and implementation of effective policies was highlighted as ‘important’ by 88% of the region’s SMEs, 50% of which rated this point as a ‘must-have’ essential.
Mastercard has successfully collaborated with regional governments to create growth opportunities for SMEs, by creating an ecosystem where small businesses can thrive.
In Pakistan, Mastercard partnered with Bank Alfa-lah and the National Bank of Pakistan to provide a safe online donation portal to support those in need during the pandemic for the Covid-19 Pandemic Relief Fund.
Through technology services, cyber assessments, insights, grants, digital training, mentoring plat-forms and knowledge initiatives, Mastercard will contribute $250 million over five years to support small businesses’ financial security globally
. As part of its goal to build a more sustainable and inclusive world, Mastercard has committed to connect 50 million small businesses, including 25 million women entrepreneurs globally, to the digital econ-omy by 2025.
“Collaboration is the key to developing a commer-cial landscape that is fit for future growth.
