Musoni Microfinance

THE MASTERCARD FOUNDATION FUND

The MasterCard Foundation has announced grants totaling $10.6 million to five companies working to boost access to financial services for poor people in rural Africa.

The initial recipients of grants from the foundation’s Fund for Rural Prosperity Scaling Competition include APA Insurance, Ltd.;Finserve Africa, Ltd./Equitel; M-KOPA, LLC; Musoni Kenya, Ltd.; and Olam Uganda, Ltd. The grants will be used to boost access, by 2020, to formal financial services such as mobile banking, savings accounts, insurance, and credit for nearly eight million people in rural areas of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.

“There were many impressive companies that entered this [grant] competition with proposals to scale up their work and make a real difference in the financial lives of people living in poverty,” said Ann Miles, director of the MasterCard Foundation’s Financial Inclusion & Youth Livelihoods program. “These five, however, displayed an innovative approach backed by a solid business proposal and a commitment to excellence that convinced us to support their efforts.”

For more information on the recipients, see the MasterCard Foundation website.

Adapted from: philanthropynewsdigest.org

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