Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth and ACCESS Development Services empower 10,000 MSEs in Jaipur

The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth in a statement today announced it has successfully reached out to over 10,000 micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in Jaipur as part of its BuddhiMoney programme with ACCESS Development Services. 

The statement read: “Launched in 2017 in partnership with ACCESS Development Services, BuddhiMoney aims to equip MSE business owners with tools and resources to help improve their business and financial acumen, thus increasing their productivity and profitability.” 

The initiative is reportedly in line with Mastercard’s stated objective of empowering 10 million merchants across the country with digital payments acceptance infrastructure.

The BuddhiMoney video series, created by ACCESS, is a blend of technology and training methods for message delivery. In the four-part video series, an animated character named BuddhiMoney was used to educate MSE business owners on mobile banking, registering their businesses, using the Internet as a tool, and accessing credit in an easy-to-understand manner. 

Rajeev Kumar, Senior Vice-President, Market Development, South Asia, Mastercard, said, “BuddhiMoney is an innovative solution for enhancing digital financial literacy for MSMEs, as it will educate them to better manage their resources, effectively leverage technology, and scale their businesses.”

The statement also carried the following findings from a BuddhiMoney impact survey:

• 90 percent of direct MSE participants registered their businesses for Udyog Aadhaar, a twelve-digit Unique Identification Number provided by the MSME Ministry. 
• 45 percent of MSEs applied for MUDRA loan, a flagship scheme of the Government of India to extend affordable credit to micro and small enterprises.
• 70 percent of MSEs began using digital banking.
• 66 percent of MSEs began using a business planner/diary to maintain financial records of their day-to-day operations.
• 61 percent of MSEs registered for Udyami Mitra, a special loan scheme for MSMEs by Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).

Further, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY), the nodal ministry focused on digital payments and spearheading the expansion of financial inclusion through technology, has reportedly shown interest in further disseminating the training content to MSE business owners across the country.

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