Happening today: She’s Next:. Virtual Event
with Actress/Producer/LGBTQ+ Equal Rights Advocate, Laverne Cox,
while Visa Street Teams Prepare Delivery of ‘Commerce in a Box’ to
help Small Businesses go Digital
After piloting Tap to Phone in more than thirty countries, Visa
(NYSE:V) today announced its first Tap to Phone pilot in the United
States. Visa is touching down in Washington, D.C., one of the U.S.
cities with the highest percentage of Black-owned small businesses
(SMBs) to launch Tap to Phone and deliver resources and education
via Visa Street Teams as part of Visa’s goal to digitally-enable 50
million SMBs. Washington, D.C. is the first stop on Visa’s six-city
SMB revitalization initiative, which also includes Atlanta,
Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles and Miami.
This press release features multimedia. View
the full release here:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210616005325/en/
In Washington D.C., Visa delivers
'commerce in a box' to local Black-owned small businesses (SMBs).
The curated selection of offers, discounts and bundles from Visa’s
Authorize.net and Visa's partners is designed to help SMBs move
their business forward digitally. (Photo: Business Wire)
“The way we shop and pay has forever changed. During the
pandemic, tapping to pay and contactless checkout became more
commonplace – and are now expected,“ said Mary Kay Bowman, global
head of buyer, seller, core and platform products, Visa. “With our
technology, networking and community resources, we’re hoping to
empower small businesses everywhere to meet their customers in the
next phase of digital-first commerce.”
Visa’s Tap to Phone technology turns sellers’ Android based
phones into point-of-sale acceptance devices, providing an on-ramp
to the digital economy with the ease of downloading an app. In
partnership with the minority-owned, mobile smartphone technology
and solution provider, ZmBIZI, the first U.S. pilot program will
provide ZmBIZI’s Z1 devices with Tap to Phone capabilities to 50
Black-owned SMBs in Washington D.C.
“ZmBIZI’s mission is to connect the world simply through mobile
smartphone technology,” said Alpesh Patel, co-founder, ZmBIZI. “We
are so proud to partner with Visa to launch their U.S. Tap to Phone
pilot and help even more small businesses and entrepreneurs grow
through digital payment technology.”
According to new data from Visa’s State of U.S. Black Women
Entrepreneurship 20211, entrepreneurs surveyed in Washington, D.C.
noted that if they had additional funding, they would invest more
in technology (35%) or new products and services (31%). Since last
summer, Visa Street Teams, a team of technology and product
specialists, have visited hundreds of thousands of SMBs globally,
providing contactless payment information and in-store signage
inviting customers to pay touch-free. In Washington D.C., Visa
Street Teams are being joined by Black Girl Ventures, whose mission
is to create access to capital, community and capacity building for
Black and Brown women-identifying founders, to begin delivering
‘commerce in a box’ which features a curated selection of offers,
discounts and bundles from Visa’s Authorize.net and Visa partners
designed to help SMBs with what they need to move their business
forward digitally – from accepting digital payments and building an
eCommerce site to marketing to their audience in new ways and
providing marketing online tools to run and protect their
business.
Interested small business owners in Washington D.C. are invited
to visit The Brown Beauty Co-op on June 17 to pick up commerce in a
box or visit here for more details.
“We are incredibly proud to partner with Visa to celebrate and
educate our fellow Washington D.C. entrepreneurs on the importance
of technology, networking and community” said Kimberly Smith,
co-founder, The Brown Beauty Co-op. “In addition to hosting the
commerce in a box pick-up party tomorrow, we’re also one of the
first businesses in the U.S. to test Visa’s Tap to Phone
technology, which will be a gamechanger for so many small
businesses.”
Today’s She’s Next Event
In addition to the launch of the Tap to Phone pilot and
‘commerce in a box’ distribution, Visa and The Female Quotient will
host She’s Next: D.C. Revitalization,
a virtual event which will bring together inspirational speakers
including Laverne Cox (Actress, Producer, LGBTQ+ Equal
Rights Advocate), D.C.-based Visa partner, Black Girl
Ventures, Visa partner IFundWomen, as well as Karl A.
Racine (Attorney General for the District of Columbia) and
The Honorable Charniele Herring (Majority Leader of the
Virginia House of Delegates representing the 46th District,
Alexandria), among other invitees. The event will consist of
virtual workshops and breakout sessions for attending entrepreneurs
to identify their most pressing technological needs and gain expert
advice on the steps needed to thrive.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on many, with a great
need among Black-and woman-owned small businesses,” said Laverne
Cox, Actress, Producer, LGBTQ+ Equal Rights Advocate. “As a Black
woman, I am proud of the work Visa is doing to boost this
ever-deserving small business community.”
For more information on Visa’s She’s Next initiative and to
subscribe to become a part of the global network, visit
Visa.com/ShesNext.
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 Visa’s State of U.S. Black Women Entrepreneurship 2021
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210616005325/en/
Visa Caroline Capers cacapers@visa.com
Visa (NYSE:V)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Visa (NYSE:V)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024