Visa to Digitally Enable 50 Million Small Businesses to Power Recovery in Communities Worldwide
June 22 2020 - 7:00AM
Business Wire
Company Introduces Online Resource Hubs,
Visa Small Business Street Teams, Local Consumer Incentive Programs
and Establishes New Visa Economic Empowerment Institute to Rally
Recovery
Visa (NYSE: V) today announced a global commitment to elevate 50
million small and micro businesses (SMBs) worldwide in an effort to
get local communities back to business in the wake of the COVID-19
pandemic. Visa is introducing a range of locally designed programs
and solutions to enable SMBs to drive efficiency and sales through
acceptance of digital payments, building online businesses and
incentivizing neighborhood support. As part of the global
commitment, Visa also formed the Visa Economic Empowerment
Institute (VEEI) focused on economic and societal issues, including
pandemic challenges SMBs face and closing racial and gender
opportunity gaps.
Small businesses will play a vital role in helping communities
around the world recover – they account for more than half of
global employment and yet, are among the most affected by the
pandemic. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, 43% of SMBs say they
only have money to last six months1 and less than half of SMBs have
any online business2.
In addition to the economic impact, COVID-19 is accelerating the
use of digital commerce experiences, from people seeking new ways
to pay that do not involve touching a terminal to a boom in
eCommerce, as stay-home orders result in shopping online instead of
in-store. How much people spend online is also increasing globally,
with spend per active card-not-present cardholder up by over 25% in
April, compared to January3.
“Small businesses on the frontlines of the global economy
deserve extraordinary support in this extraordinary time,” said Al
Kelly, CEO and chairman of Visa. “We are putting our network to
work to help 50 million businesses globally not only survive, but
also to thrive, along with the communities they serve.”
To help small businesses, Visa is focusing initially on four
strategic areas to promote digital commerce and economic growth,
with plans to continue to create products and services as the needs
of entrepreneurs change over time. These areas include:
- Empowering digital-first businesses: Visa has built
localized online resource centers – now available in more than 20
countries – providing tools, partner offers and information on how
to start, run and grow digital-first small businesses. Across
European markets, Visa is investing to increase the number of
digital payment acceptance devices within shops by more than 50%.
In the U.S., Visa is expanding its partnership with IFundWomen
providing grants and digital training to U.S.-based Black
women-owned small businesses.
- Encouraging digital payments: Major shifts in consumer
behavior have occurred around the globe, including the overarching
need for a touchless experience at the point-of-sale as 90% of
shoppers are hesitant to shop in-store due to coronavirus.4
Deploying easy to adopt contactless payment technology – rapidly,
and at scale – is critical to enabling faster, more secure
commerce. Visa is working with a range of partners to increase the
number of locations where consumers can tap their contactless card
or mobile phone. Starting in July, Visa street teams will visit
merchants to provide “back to business” kits with new point-of-sale
materials, branding, educational resources and special offers. The
program will kick off in the 50 largest U.S. cities and expand
globally to 15 countries including Singapore, Italy, and South
Africa.
- Incentivizing neighborhood support: Visa partnerships
encourage consumers to shop local and remind them that where you
shop matters. The Visa Back to Business Project – an online tool
that helps consumers identify businesses that may be open in the
wake of the pandemic or a natural disaster – is now live in
Australia, New Zealand and the U.S., and further expanding
globally. In Europe and across Central Europe, Middle East and
Africa, Visa has launched new SMB initiatives that champion and
enable entrepreneurs while encouraging consumers to support small
businesses. Visa is teaming up with eCommerce platforms like
Shopify, and restaurant delivery companies, including Deliveroo, to
reward consumers for spending their money locally.
- Developing positioning and policy: In addition to the
initiatives Visa is undertaking, the company today announced the
formation of the Visa Economic Empowerment Institute. This new
institute comprised of Visa experts and partners will help address
underlying problems and provide insights for SMB growth and closing
racial/gender gaps. Key projects in the next six months will
address topics including post-crisis recovery and resilience, urban
mobility, closing equality opportunity gaps and insights into the
gig economy.
Today’s announcement follows a global commitment from the Visa
Foundation, announced in April, to provide $210 million in COVID-19
relief funding to address the longer-term needs of the small and
micro business community over the next five years.
As the trusted engine of commerce, Visa is committed to
leveraging its global network of networks to help the world adapt,
rebuild and get everyone back to business.
About Visa Inc.
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is the world’s leader in digital payments.
Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative,
reliable and secure payment network - enabling individuals,
businesses and economies to thrive. Our advanced global processing
network, VisaNet, provides secure and reliable payments around the
world, and is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction
messages a second. The company’s relentless focus on innovation is
a catalyst for the rapid growth of digital commerce on any device,
for everyone, everywhere. As the world moves from analog to
digital, Visa is applying our brand, products, people, network and
scale to reshape the future of commerce. For more information,
visit About Visa, visa.com/blog and @VisaNews.
1 U.S. Chamber of Commerce & MetLife Special Report on
Coronavirus and Small Business, April 3, 2020
2 Visa Digital Transformation of SMBs, 2018
3 Visa data, April 2020
4 Retail Systems Research Consumer Report, March 2020
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200622005135/en/
Kryssa Guntrum 415-805-4488 kguntrum@visa.com
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