Visa has launched an initiative that will focus on empowering women Christened Visa Everywhere Initiative: Women’s Global Edition.
The global program seeks to invite women entrepreneurs to address Fintech and Social Impact challenges, where winners in each of the two competitions will win $100,000 each. The finals will be held alongside the launch of the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019.
According to Visa, more than 163 million women across the globe have started operating businesses in the past half a decade, accounting for up to 37 percent 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,” said Lynne Biggar, Chief Marketing and Communication Officer at Visa.
Businesses with more than one female founder are invited to apply. The application should discuss their solution to address challenges facing the fintech and social space. Specifically, the Fintech Challenge will focus on a business’s unique solution to transforming consumer, payments and/or commercial experiences. The Social Impact Challenge seeks to explore how women entrepreneurs can drive social impact by supporting sustainable and equitable livelihoods and strengthening economies.
Participation can be submitted from today till April 14th. The selection of regional finalists will start in May. Lastly, the finals will be staged in Paris, France on June 7th.
“The Visa Everywhere initiative allowed us to add more value to our product by using APIs from its Developer Platform. As a result, we garnered enough recognition to win new customers and business opportunities! Personally, it was a great accomplishment,” said Amparo Nalvarte, CEO & Co- Founder, Culqi. “I am so proud to be a Visa Everywhere Initiative winner and am truly honored to be a part of the Women’s Global campaign. I can hardly wait to cheer for all of the amazing women that will be participating in this wonderful opportunity.”