Visa has reinforced its commitment to expanding digital payments in Ethiopia by announcing two new initiatives to help advance fintech innovation and support women-led small and medium businesses (SMBs). During a visit by Regional President for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) Andrew Torre to Ethiopia, Visa unveiled plans to hold a second edition of the Visa Everywhere Initiative (VEI) fintech competition and launch its She’s Next women’s empowerment initiative.
Through VEI, Visa will invite fintech start-ups in Ethiopia to share innovations to solve payment challenges of tomorrow. In 2021, ArifPay, Ethiopia’s first point of sale payments systems operator won the first VEI Ethiopia challenge. Since 2015, VEI has helped start-ups from over 100 countries collectively raise more than $16 billion in funding.
Visa’s She’s Next program is a global advocacy program that supports women-owned small businesses through funding, training and mentorship. Since 2020, Visa has invested over $3 million through more than 250 grants and coaching for women owned businesses through the programme.