Mastercard, BHD and INCAE announce the EMPRO programme to build the digital skills and financial resilience of small businesses led by Dominican women

• The first edition of the new EMPRO programme offers small businesses 40 full scholarships, harnessing digital tools and financial services to support their growth path.
• New digital skills will allow small businesses to digitalise their operations, unlock access to finance and explore new markets.
• The programme is launched under Mastercard’s global Strive initiative, which helps small businesses access capital, go digital and grow their networks and knowledge – all with the aim of building more resilient businesses with greater opportunities to expand and succeed.

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 9 July 2024 –Mastercard, Banco BHD and INCAE Business School, through its Center for Inclusive and Sustainable Leadership (CELIS), announced a partnership to offer a new programme, Empresarias Progresando (EMPRO), under the global Mastercard Strive initiative – with the aim of supporting the growth, digitalisation and financial resilience of women-led small businesses in the Dominican Republic.

Mastercard Strive is a portfolio of philanthropic programmes – backed by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth – that helps small businesses around the world thrive in the digital economy. With programmes running worldwide, Strive supports more than 10 million small businesses to help them unlock access to capital, markets and digital solutions and develop their skills through training and mentoring.

The one-year EMPRO programme in the Dominican Republic builds on a collaboration between INCAE Business School, Mastercard and other strategic partners on programmes in Honduras and Guatemala, which showed how targeted digital training can unlock access to formal markets and digital financial services for women-led small businesses. The Dominican programme will draw on the region’s lessons and knowledge to provide digital training and mentoring to 40 women-led businesses in essential areas such as online sales, digital marketing and digital financial services.

Women-led businesses, which make up more than half of all micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the Dominican Republic, play a crucial role in the country’s economic growth. Despite their growing entrepreneurial spirit, they need more support to digitalise their operations and unlock access to finance, especially given that 60% of Dominican women entrepreneurs are unbanked, according to a study by the BBVA Microfinance Foundation (FMBBVA).

“Despite being drivers of employment and prosperity in their communities, women entrepreneurs still face challenges that limit their growth. That’s why we are proud to work with INCAE Business School and Banco BHD to offer them a comprehensive training programme that gives them the knowledge, tools and mentoring networks they need to connect to the digital economy, grow their businesses and reach their full potential,” said Tomás Alonso, Country Manager for the Dominican Republic and Haiti at Mastercard.

From digital training to digital adoption

The training will be delivered through Mastercard Strive’s “Hora de Crecer” digital platform and will include virtual self-learning, virtual classes, tutoring and personalised mentoring. Participants will also receive intensive training at a one-week bootcamp on INCAE’s campus in Costa Rica. This will be followed by an in-person showcase event with large companies and investors, allowing the small business owners to broaden their market base and explore new sales opportunities.

“To drive equitable business success and contribute to Latin America’s economic development, it is vital to strengthen women entrepreneurs’ capabilities, provide them with up-to-date tools and digital readiness and widen their access to financial resources and markets. For all these reasons, we are very proud of this collaboration with organisations that share our values to make a change that will impact entire communities in the Dominican Republic,” said Gabriela Lucke Guzmán, Director of INCAE CELIS.

Adrián Guzmán, Vice President of Segments at Banco BHD, said: “For our organisation it is very meaningful to be part of this programme, which promotes the development of women-led small and medium-sized businesses by training their leaders in cutting-edge topics that will move the needle on their success.”

The full training and mentoring scholarship will equip Dominican women-led small businesses with the digital skills they need to run targeted digital marketing campaigns, sell online, reach larger customers in priority markets and improve their financial management practices. Banco BHD will also offer them a series of tailored finance webinars and facilitate direct access to credit services for selected businesses.

Globally, Mastercard has provided 27 million women entrepreneurs with solutions that can help them grow their businesses since 2020, exceeding its goal of 25 million by 2025. Through its global Strive initiative, Mastercard has previously launched an e-commerce toolkit for micro-entrepreneurs in Latin America and the Caribbean, offering digital training content in Spanish and Portuguese to equip small businesses with essential skills to sell on social media platforms and other digital marketplaces. Mastercard Strive has also formed strategic partnerships with local financial service providers, fintechs and e-commerce platforms to reach small businesses in Chile, Mexico, Colombia, Panama and Peru with digital training content.

Background: Women entrepreneurs and the MSME landscape in the Dominican Republic

Entrepreneurship in the Dominican Republic is currently at a high point, with strong post-pandemic confidence and optimism among entrepreneurs. A significant majority of adults (80%) believe they have the skills and drive to start a business, while 38% still have a notable fear of failure [1]. Women lead more than 55% of local MSMEs, showing the crucial role of female entrepreneurship in driving economic growth, fostering innovation and social development. However, challenges remain, such as limited sources of finance, market access and digital gaps. These barriers, identified by the 2021 Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs [2], underline the critical need for better digital infrastructure, skills development and greater digital inclusion to unlock the full potential of women-led small businesses to contribute to employment and economic progress in the Dominican Republic.

Interested women-led small businesses can find out more and apply at ww.empro-rd.incae.edu/ , @INCAECELIS on Facebook or @incae_celis on Instagram. The application deadline is 10 August 2024.

Press Contact:

For more information and interviews, contact Vanessa Durán, AF Comunicación, at vduran@afcomunicacion.com

About INCAE

INCAE is a leading business school in Latin America, founded in 1964 by Harvard Business School. Its mission is to actively promote the comprehensive development of the countries it serves by training leaders for key sectors and improving their practices, attitudes and values by:

• Promoting research, teaching and the dissemination of modern management concepts and techniques.
• Strengthening analytical capacity and understanding of economic, political and social phenomena.
• Facilitating dialogue, understanding and collaboration between individuals, sectors and countries.

INCAE is a regional pioneer in strategic, inclusive and sustainable leadership, with the promotion of diversity as a priority, through its Center for Inclusive and Sustainable Leadership (CELIS).

About Banco BHD

Banco BHD was founded on 24 July 1972. At the time, it was known as Banco Hipotecario, the first of its kind in the country. Over more than five decades, we have been pioneers in the local financial sector: from being the first multiple-service bank in the Dominican Republic to pioneering the implementation of a corporate governance model. Our forward-looking vision made us the national financial institution with the greatest international backing. Our partnership policy has also allowed us to offer clients comprehensive value propositions with banking products and services and other non-financial elements such as advice and training, among others.

About the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth

The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth advances equitable and sustainable economic growth and financial inclusion around the world. The Center leverages the company’s core assets and competencies, including data insights, expertise and technology, while administering the philanthropic Mastercard Impact Fund, to produce independent research, scale global programmes and empower a community of thinkers, leaders and doers on the front lines of inclusive growth. For more information and to receive its latest insights, follow the Center on LinkedIn and Instagram and subscribe to its newsletter.

About Mastercard (NYSE: MA)     

Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments industry. Our mission is to connect and power an inclusive digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere, by making transactions safe, simple, smart and accessible. Using secure data and networks, partnerships and passion, our innovations and solutions help individuals, financial institutions, governments and businesses realise their greatest potential. With connections across more than 210 countries and territories, we are building a sustainable world that unlocks priceless possibilities for all.