The FINANCIAL — Credit card and electronic payments giant – Mastercard is committed to women entrepreneurs and is launching Path to Priceless to shine a light on their journey and provide a curated calendar of physical and digital advisement and mentorship opportunities. Their intention is to clear that path so that their ideas can reach their full potential.
Mastercard commissioned a U.S.-based study to better understand how perceptions and attitudes of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) differ across generations and gender. This study found that fifty two percent of Gen Z and 44 percent of Millennial women cited being able to help others as an important factor in determining their future or current career path. Mastercard knows that women have the ideas and passion that can Start Something Priceless, but sometimes the path to actualizing those ideas isn’t easy, especially when starting your own business. To reaffirm its commitment to women entrepreneurs, Mastercard is launching Path to Priceless to shine a light on their journey and provide a curated calendar of physical and digital advisement and mentorship opportunities, extending its partnership with Create & Cultivate, and introducing the Her Ideas community in partnership with Hello Alice, where members can access learning modules, tools and more, Yahoo Finance reported.
“While we’re starting with a goal of 1 million owners, we’re creating opportunities for all. Our hope is that women who can benefit from the advisement, mentorship and community we are bringing to life will join us.” Through Mastercard’s partnership with Create & Cultivate, female business owners will have access to conferences, panel discussions, networking opportunities and one-to-one mentorship, Cards International wrote.
Mastercard Index delves into the enabling factors that make the difference for women’s entrepreneurship in Asia. We live in a world full of possibilities, but they’re not always open to everyone. While the number of women entrepreneurs worldwide has grown over time , women looking to start businesses still struggle to obtain adequate resourcing – funding, logistics and industry knowledge. According to the World Bank, 45 percent of the world’s economies have laws constraining women’s ability to join and remain in the labor force, according to Daily Mirror.
Women small business owners are already making their mark despite the challenges before them, and it’s our intention to clear that path so that their ideas can reach their full potential,” said Cheryl Guerin, executive vice president of North America Marketing & Communications for Mastercard. “While we’re starting with a goal of 1 million owners, we’re creating opportunities for all. Our hope is that any woman owner who can benefit from the advisement, mentorship and community we are bringing to life will join us, ” Mastercard wrote in a statement.
“At Mastercard, we believe too much of our world was designed without women in mind – and without women involved. Even today, inequality and exclusion still hold women back. We’re tackling this problem head on. After all, it’s what Priceless is all about – unlocking the potential in every person across all parts of their life.” Access to mentorship programs and connecting with like-minded owners were top cited means of advancing female entrepreneurs, according to Mastercard research, Business Wire wrote.
The Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs (MIWE) looks into issues such as these by examining publicly available data to track the progress and achievements of women entrepreneurs and business owners in 58 markets around the world – representing 80 per cent of the global female workforce. Multiple indicators contribute to the development of the Index’s rankings: Women’s Advancement Outcomes, Knowledge Assets & Financial Access and Supporting Entrepreneurial Conditions. What the Index reveals is that, though women in Singapore make up 44 per cent of the nation’s workforce – close to half – they only make up 26.3 per cent of all business owners, while the number of male entrepreneurs is increasing much faster than that of their female counterparts. That gap means a loss in the innovation that these entrepreneurs can bring to the table, which may be holding Singapore back, according to The Business Times.
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