The Mastercard Foundation, in partnership with Kifiya Financial Technology, launches a $100 million program that aims to make uncollateralized digital lending the new normal for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
Dubbed the Sustainable Access to Finance to Enable Entrepreneurship (SAFEE) Program, the initiative is designed to unlock resources from banks, innovate new models/products, and solve challenges that have traditionally constrained MSMEs’ access to financial services.
SAFEE, which will run for five years, will see the development and launch of several digital financial products targeting MSMEs. The program also provides technical assistance for financial institutions to transition from conventional collateral-based lending to uncollateralized, digitally enabled, credit-score-based lending and embrace new modes of financial service delivery.
“Our partnership with the Mastercard Foundation will enable the unlocking of uncollateralized credit products ranging from digital working capital, invoice financing, inventory credit, buy-now-pay-later, and interest-free banking that address the needs and demands of MSMEs,’ said Munir Duri, founder and CEO of Kifiya Financial Technology
“The program is catalytic by design to enable the financial sector transition through system-level change support where uncollateralized digital credit for MSMEs becomes the new normal,” he added.
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