FinTech LIVE New York: Mastercard & the Power of Partnership

July 29, 2024

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Jane Prokop, EVP and Global Head of SMEs at Mastercard, shares her insights on supercharging SMEs through the power of fintech partnerships

At FinTech LIVE New York 2024, we spoke with Mastercard’s Executive Vice President, Global Head of Small and Medium Enterprises, Jane Prokop, about how businesses can leverage fintech partnerships to power innovation.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a pivotal role in the global economy and actually constitute more than 90% of the businesses that exist worldwide. As Jane explains, they contribute more than half of the employment and GDP across all markets, accounting for roughly US$50tn in spend each year.

However, they still face a range of barriers to their success, which Jane discusses in this interview with FinTech Magazine.

“The biggest challenge is access to credit to capital,” she notes. “The World Bank has estimated there's an almost US$6tn gap every year between what small businesses look to get in funding and what they actually get.

“It is something that we need to work on collaboratively between fintechs and banks.”

Mastercard: Supercharging fintech partnerships

Whilst fintechs face plenty of challenges, Mastercard adopts a two-pronged approach to supporting early-stage fintechs through its Start Path Programme. This brings in companies and offers them access to the full suite of Mastercard capabilities, in addition to introducing them to financial players they can partner with.

“We act very much as a matchmaker, I would say, between fintechs and our financial institution partners,” Jane explains. “In many cases, we find financial institutions who are looking to add certain capabilities to their suite of services that they offer to SMEs.

“We often are introducing these parties to one another, which we see as a net huge benefit to the financial ecosystem. For fintechs to work with financial institutions and open up access to capital is one of the most promising areas that we see going forward.”

Mastercard is eager to ensure that people have both the digital tools they need and can gain access to capital. The belief is that it could substantially change how SMEs participate and thrive in a competitive business landscape.

“Mastercard tries to support all of our partners in extending those sorts of services to small businesses,” Jane says. “For SMEs, get familiar with the tools, adopt the tools and don’t be afraid to use them. And then work with your financial institutions to strengthen that relationship and let your needs be known.”

Watch the video above to hear the full interview with Jane Prokop.