Mastercard and Unilever Join Forces to Break Barriers for Micro Entrepreneurs’ Growth

Mastercard and Unilever have announced that they will expand their strategic partnership to help micro-entrepreneurs in Africa and other regions overcome the cash constraints that limit their ability to buy and sell more products and ultimately grow their businesses.

In Kenya, the two companies have launched Jaza Duka, the initiative that combines distribution data from Unilever and analysis by Mastercard, on how much inventory a store has bought from Unilever over time.

The results of the analysis are used to provide a micro-credit eligibility recommendation to KCB Bank Kenya (KCB).  This solves the problem that banks usually require formal credit history or collateral, resulting in entrepreneurs borrowing from informal lenders at high-interest rates and trapping them in a cycle of debt.

If the micro-credit line from KCB is approved, the store owner is able to increase their purchases of product from what they can buy with cash on hand to what they can actually sell. For example, if a store is consistently showing weekly purchases of $50 from Unilever they could qualify for an interest-free credit line of $120 to stock their inventory.  The credit line from KCB is provided through a secure Mastercard digital payment solution.

As part of the micro-credit, the partners are providing the store owners with training to help them manage their finances, inventory and forward planning for supply against demand. The entrepreneurs are also being trained on marketing tools and techniques to help sell their products and subsequently increase their opportunity to grow faster. Local communities can also benefit from having quicker, more reliable access to the products they need most to support their families.

By the end of April, more than 5,000 kiosk owners in the wider Nairobi area had applied to join the program – all are expected to be fully enrolled by mid-May. Stores that fully moved to the new platform have grown their sales of Unilever products by up to 20 percent.

“Micro and small businesses are the economic backbone of communities around the world,” commented Ajay Banga, president, and CEO, Mastercard. “There’s an opportunity to set these businesses up for long-term growth by bringing together the tools and data from different industries to change the model of small business financing. We invite other companies and private sector leaders to join us in this collaborative approach and create a true network effect that will bring down barriers and trigger change.”