As part of the International Women’s Day celebrations, Visa has launched the Visa Everywhere initiative, Women’s Global Edition. The program will invite women entrepreneurs from around the world to tackle FinTech and Social Impact challenges.
Started in 2015, the Visa Everywhere Initiative has provided solutions for commerce and payment challenges. The program has been activated regionally in 75 countries and has awarded more than 70 leading startups with monetary prizes, mentorship and access to Visa’s clients and partners. Now, for the first time, the program will shift from regionally-focused events to a worldwide program centered on FinTech and Social Impact to shine a spotlight on the millions of underrepresented women business leaders and Visa’s commitment to micro and small businesses catalyzing change.
To be able to participate, companies with at least one female founder are invited to submit solutions that tackle challenges facing the FinTech and Social Impact landscapes today through one of the two innovative briefs.
- Challenge 1 (FinTech): Leveraging your company’s unique capabilities, how could your solution help transform consumer, payments and/or commercial experiences locally, regionally or globally?
- Challenge 2 (Social Impact): How can women entrepreneurs around the world drive social impact by supporting sustainable and equitable livelihoods and strengthening local/regional economies?
Eligible participants will be divided into 6 regions that is, North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, Europe (excluding France), France, Africa/Middle East. Each region will send one winner per challenge to the finals in Paris. During the opening week of FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019™, finalists will participate in networking opportunities with Visa’s global partner network, and a final live-pitching event to determine the overall VEI winners.
To reward the solutions with the biggest impact, Visa will provide $100,000 to each challenge winner, along with expert mentorship, access to clients and Visa’s vast network of partners. The winners will also receive tickets to the opening game of FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Lynne Biggar, Chief Marketing and Communication Officer at Visa, had this to say, “More than 163 million women around the world have started their own business in the last five years, accounting for up to 37% of the workforce. Women entrepreneurship is on the rise and Visa is committed to inspiring more women to break through barriers through platforms like the Visa Everywhere Initiative.”
Submissions for the competition started on the 6th of March and the applications will be due on the 14th of April 2019. If you are interested in the competition click here to apply.