NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

MasterCard and the Singapore Management University (SMU) today announced the launch of a two-year Social and Financial Inclusion Programme.

One component of the programme is a research on social entrepreneurship, innovation and financial inclusion in the Southeast Asia and South Asia regions, according to MasterCard and SMU. The study will focus on identifying scalable and sustainable social entrepreneurship and innovation business model, advancing financial inclusion for marginalised communities and micro-entrepreneurs, and developing innovative financial products and services for them. It will also study the roles of public-private partnership and philanthropy, the macroeconomic impacts of financial and social inclusion, and the policy and regulatory environments that enable financial inclusion.

Findings from the research will be presented at the inaugural MasterCard-SMU Forum on social inclusion and economic value creation in mid-2016.  The findings will also contribute to a seminar series that will provide advanced training on the approaches and best practices of social and financial inclusion for senior government officials, central bankers, regulators and senior business executives in Asia Pacific (APAC).

As part of the programme, MasterCard will be funding and supporting several student consulting projects on social and financial inclusions in select APAC countries.