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Mastercard Foundation Fund for Rural Prosperity names latest beneficiaries
The Mastercard Foundation Fund for Rural Prosperity (FRP) has announced the names of the five African firms that will each get a share of $4 438 551 to support the fund’s financial inclusion agenda on the continent.
The Mastercard Foundation Fund for Rural Prosperity is a $50-million challenge fund that aims to enable one million underprivileged people in rural Africa to gain access to appropriate savings, credit and insurance products and services. The fund was launched by the MasterCard Foundation in 2015.
The fund seeks to do this by supporting the design and delivery of innovative and scalable financial products, services or processes.
The Mastercard Foundation Fund for Rural Prosperity has so far distributed more than $41.5-million to 38 projects across 15 African countries
The Fund’s latest beneficiaries — the fourth batch selected from the fund’s rolling competition — hail from Burundi, Ghana, Mali, Tanzania, and Zambia. They are: Lima Kwanza, Promotion du Sésame du Mali (Prosema-SA), Savonor, Sprint Money and Syecomp Ghana.
In a statement yesterday (5 March), the fund said the five firms were selected from among 214 companies that applied for the final phase of its competition.
Last year the fund awarded $11 814 064 to 12 companies. The fund said since its first awards in 2016, it has distributed more than $41.5-million to 38 projects across 15 countries on the continent.
Fund for Rural Prosperity team leader Wambui Chege said the new awardees “expand and enrich” the fund’s portfolio through their “innovative projects” which she said cut across “varied sectors”.
“The fund is excited by the potential impact of the projects in its portfolio and will now direct its focus to project implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and sharing emerging learnings from the portfolio with financial inclusion stakeholders.
“We look forward to driving financial access and meeting the needs of the rural poor across Africa,” added Chege.
Featured image: Mastercard Foundation Fund for Rural Prosperity via Facebook
