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

Collaborations such as the one between Mastercard Lighthouse MASSIV and UNDP contributes to amplifying the private sector’s role in creating significant positive impact on people and ensuring we leave a better planet for future generations.

Mastercard is partnering with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on Lighthouse MASSIV: a free of charge startup partnership program dedicated to helping one billion people live more prosperous and secure lives by 2025. The purpose of the partnership is to support impact tech companies on their impact measurement and management and connect them to the broader United Nations network and initiatives.

Since its launch in 2019, Mastercard Lighthouse MASSIV has featured scale-ready companies focused on solving some of the most complex global challenges, including climate change, poverty, and social and economic exclusion. As we enter the fall of 2022, a year with unprecedented geopolitical conflicts, continued global economic challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as climate change impacts, the time is right for an urgent acceleration of the private sector’s contribution to Agenda 2030 for sustainable development. Reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in time will not only require an all-aboard approach to sustainability from the private sector, but there is an equal need for innovative solutions from startups that play a pivotal role in solving pressing global issues.

“With just less than eight years to achieve the Goals put forward in the 2030 Agenda, we need all hands-on deck now. This urgency highlights the importance of programs such as Lighthouse MASSIV, through which impact start-ups receive targeted support to work strategically towards the SDGs as well as learning how to incorporate impact measurement to reduce their carbon footprint, enable fair economic growth, and secure inclusive development and management. We appreciate this important partnership with Mastercard where we offer impact measurement and management services to startups.” – Marcos Neto, Director Sustainable Finance Hub at UNDP.

Photo courtesy of madartzgraphics.