Deepening small business access to finance: the power of partnerships

When Paul McCartney penned “With a Little Help from My Friends” for the Beatles’ 1967 album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, he probably wasn’t thinking of the importance of partnerships in philanthropy. But, nearly sixty years later, that title sentiment still holds true.

Our friends, in this case, are our partners, and they are essential for Mastercard Strive. Partnerships — of all types — support our work and enable us to achieve greater scale and impact with small businesses worldwide. We partner with a diverse ecosystem of players that are supporting the growth and resilience of millions of small businesses through greater access to capital and digital financial services. This includes banks and mission-driven institutions, fintechs and technology providers, e-commerce and fast-moving consumer goods providers, NGOs and social enterprises, and governments and academic institutions. Each of these diverse organizations brings unique skills and expertise, in addition to a wealth of knowledge on the entrepreneurs and small businesses they work with.

“Our partners have a unique vantage point on the myriad challenges small businesses face,” explains Victoria Brown, senior director for programs and implementation at DAI where she leads implementation of Mastercard Strive USA. “By working together as a collective we can really move the needle in support of small businesses, which strengthens the resilience of the ecosystem.”

Recently, Mastercard Strive had a chance to reflect on the wide range of access to finance-focused initiatives within its small business portfolio to synthesize learning and insights (see our previous post). This exercise yielded several lessons about working with partners to enhance small businesses’ access to finance. We’ve found that beyond dedicating time and resources, three elements that partners exhibit tend to shine through: a focus and willingness to work with micro- and small enterprises, a willingness to learn, try new approaches and evolve, and most importantly, a shared vision. Beyond these, we gathered four lessons for driving successful partnerships across our portfolio.

Lessons with partners in mind:

• Digital finance solutions must be commercially viable for our partners to drive sustainability: Developing digital finance solutions for small businesses often requires finding a balance between a partner’s commercial business case and the needs of small businesses. By engaging closely with our partners, our programs come to understand their partner’s commercial trajectory and ambitions and bridge value between these ambitions and small businesses’ needs. For example, CARE, the implementation partner for Strive Women, uses a women-centered design process and works with partners to ensure that products and services remain relevant and meet small business needs. This was the case in Peru, where CARE partnered with Financiera Confianza to design a loan that requires no credit history and includes breast cancer screening insurance. Similarly, Mastercard Strive program manager Accion works closely with partners to help them design innovative digital products, financial services, digital tools, and infrastructure to better meet the needs of small businesses and entrepreneurs.
• Pre-existing and varied partnerships are successfully delivering digital finance solutions to small businesses: Mastercard Strive found that small businesses engage the most with content and tools when they are built right into the apps and platforms they already use. We believe this success stems from the trusted relationship that partners have with their small business communities. Partners have an existing relationship and reputation that eases the way for us to capture the attention of their small business audience. Different types of partners are also important, and it has enabled Mastercard Strive to reach new small business segments through different financial products.
• Partner learning networks minimize duplication and replicate success across programs: In many markets, Mastercard Strive has established learning networks where partners can share insights, better address siloed and duplicative approaches in their markets, and foster public-private collaboration. “The cross-learning among grantees from different countries was a valuable opportunity,” one partner explained. “It gave us insights into how things are done in other regions, which was very insightful.” For example, last year, Mastercard Strive USA launched a series of local convenings that aimed to foster more local public-private collaboration. These five events, “Mastercard Strive USA Summits,” were held in New York, Washington D.C., St. Louis, Raleigh and Kansas, bringing together leaders from national and local government, philanthropic and private sectors, alongside the small business community to discuss topics such as how to leverage public programs that support small businesses or use new technologies to unlock capital to help small businesses and entrepreneurs.
• Conducive policy and regulatory environments can help deepen philanthropic impact towards access to finance: Mastercard Strive has seen that regulations and policies can help foster an environment that increases our philanthropic impact. This is particularly acute for financial and lending institutions that support groups such as entrepreneurs and women-led small businesses. For instance, Mastercard Strive has seen that partners are more willing to rethink their approaches to lending to traditionally ‘riskier’ customer segments, such as women and entrepreneurs.

At Mastercard Strive, partnerships are more than just collaborations — they’re the driving force behind expanding small businesses’ access to finance. Working with our diverse network of stakeholders means we can unlock new opportunities and innovation, achieve more impact, and ultimately build more resilient small business ecosystems. Our learnings highlight the power of shared vision, innovation, and collective action in shaping more responsible and inclusive finance. Moving forward, we remain committed to deepening these partnerships and driving meaningful change for small businesses worldwide.