Global payments and technology company Mastercard today launched ‘Project Kirana’ for women entrepreneurs or women-run stores in select cities in Uttar Pradesh including Lucknow, Kanpur and Varanasi. The scheme intends to expand financial inclusion and digital payments adoption among kirana shops that are run or operated by women.
 
The scheme has been launched by Mastercard and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in partnership with Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative (W-GDP), a media release said.
 
Project Kirana is a two-year program that will be implemented by DAI and ACCESS Development Services.
 
 The program will focus on building financial and digital literacy skills on topics such as banking, digital payments, saving, credit and insurance, the release said.
 
The release further claimed that the scheme would be working towards improving basic business management skills including inventory management, accounting, budget management and customer loyalty.
 
“At Mastercard, we believe in levelling the playing field for women entrepreneurs. We work towards democratising access to financial and digital services and establishing and broadening networks among small business owners,” Alison Eskesen, Vice President at Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth said.
 
“By joining forces with USAID, Mastercard is determined to strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem as well as support the aspirations of women entrepreneurs in India,” she added.
 
USAID has a global network of more than 186 gender advisors who work to accelerate USAID’s gender work worldwide.
 
“Project Kirana is strategically designed to support women with a suite of skills and knowledge to increase their access to financial services and ultimately bring them into the formal economy,” Porush Singh, Division President, South Asia at Mastercard said.

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Mastercard recently announced a commitment of Rs 250 crores (US$33 million) to help reboot Indian SMEs and enable business recovery amid the Covid-19 outbreak, the release said.