Visa launches first global competition focused on celebrating women entrepreneurs

Visa launches first global competition focused on celebrating women entrepreneurs

In celebration of International Women’s Day, Visa (NYSE: V) today reinforced its dedication to women empowerment with the launch of the first Visa Everywhere Initiative: Women’s Global Edition. The global program invites women entrepreneurs from around the world to tackle FinTech and Social Impact challenges for a chance to win $100,000 in each of the two challenges. The program will culminate with a finals event to be held during kick-off of the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019.

“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[1]. 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.

Since 2015, the Visa Everywhere Initiative has provided visionary solutions for commerce and payment challenges of tomorrow. The program has activated regionally in 75 countries and 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.

Visa launches first global competition focused on celebrating women entrepreneurs

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?

“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.”