Fostering digital equity and inclusion
Exploring new opportunities to bring unbanked and underbanked individuals and businesses into the digital and financial ecosystems.
Pillar Overview
The pandemic has exposed troubling disparities in how people and small businesses can access and use digital technology, as well as the significant barriers communities must overcome to receive the benefits of digitization.
For Visa, digital equity and inclusion is the assurance that all individuals and businesses are provided opportunities to participate in, and receive, full benefits from digital platforms.
Digital equity and inclusion rests on two overarching foundations: enablement and the ecosystem.
Enablement – the action of giving someone the authority or means to do something – is the result of knowledge and skills, access to resources, and equity in opportunity. Ecosystem refers to the physical infrastructure, human networks, governance frameworks, and ownership structures that interact powerfully in today’s hyper-connected digital world. The Visa Economic Empowerment Institute (VEEI) draws on Visa’s experience to bring policy recommendations that reduce inequalities and remove barriers to inclusion.
VEEI Articles on Digital Equity
Let’s talk about how we talk about interoperability
We typically talk about interoperability in terms of technical interoperability, network interoperability, and regulatory interoperability. In these discussions, evolving technology, standards, payment system modernization, regulatory harmonization, and trade agreements loom large. Because regulatory interoperability, done well, enables the other two types, it is perhaps the most important to make progress on. Discussions of interoperability can sometimes turn into recommendations for uniformity and rigidity, and we believe this can stifle innovation and lead to single points of failure.
Unlocking the benefits of digital payments for micro and small businesses: Insights from Mexico
This paper aims to provide actionable insights to policymakers seeking to enable entrepreneurs to participate fully in the digital economy. A survey of more than 750 micro and small business owners in Mexico in November 2020 demonstrate that being connected to digital payments and commerce positively impacts small businesses resilience and growth. The study also shows that a new breed of financial technology companies known as payment facilitators are solving distribution problems at the edge of existing payment ecosystems to include more businesses and people. As policymakers look at ways to expand inclusive economic growth and social development, extending payments acceptance to more small businesses should be a key part of national policies and investments.
Small business in the digital age: recommendations for recovery and resilience
Greater digitization of commerce has brought enormous benefits to businesses and consumers. This paper examines the results of a survey of small businesses in five developing countries (Brazil, Colombia, Malaysia, Philippines, and South Africa) and finds that firms that embraced digital commerce and cross-border capabilities before and during the pandemic have weathered the crisis better than others. Survey responses also indicate that more small businesses want improved internet connectivity, assistance with digital commerce, and help with cybersecurity than want direct financial support from governments. These findings help inform several recommendations to policymakers on measures they can take—and some they should avoid—to help their small businesses recover and thrive.
Supporting social equity by boosting small businesses: what economic history can teach us
Given the importance of small businesses to the economy and the current imperative in the United States to correct the course of systemic social and economic racism, helping Black-owned businesses to survive, recover, and thrive has never been more important. Helping them do so not only makes economic and business sense; it is an opportunity to help to set our country on a better path, post-pandemic.
Keeping the lights on for small businesses: safeguarding the payments ecosystem during the pandemic
The increase of digital commerce has also increased the opportunities for cyber criminals. An almost complete shift to online commerce accelerated by the pandemic has expanded the cyber-attack surface area, creating new opportunities for cyber crime. We share perspective on what is necessary to enhance the cybersecurity of the global payments ecosystem, but also practical steps that small businesses can take to mitigate cyber risks.
Expanding opportunities through enhanced equity
Visa is guided by our mission to connect the world to enable individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. The Visa Economic Empowerment Institute (VEEI) will explore the manner in which two foundational elements – “enablement” and “ecosystems” – interact to affect how people, micro and small businesses, and communities use and benefit from digital payments and technology. We will provide policy recommendations to encourage faster movement of governments, businesses, and individuals toward the goal of digital equity and financial inclusion.
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