Visa and STEM Power partner to break local and international barriers

Visa and the Ethiopian national non-governmental organization, STEM Power, have signed a partnership to help bring on some 3,600 technology innovators to the market.
The program aims to empower local technology start-up companies to break new barriers in the local and international markets over a three-year period years from September 30, 2020 to August 31, 2023. This will enable market players to be equipped with the knowledge and skills to break international barriers and will bring tailored skills to two distinct groups of micro business owners looking to establish and grow their businesses.
“This is a three-year partnership that adds financial education, money, skills and the support required by the technology entrepreneurs to come to the market,” said , Visa’s Head of Social Impact and the Vice President, Central Europe, Middle East and Africa in an interview.
According to Visa, limited access to loans and huge bureaucratic hurdles for starting and closing a business and lack of entrepreneurship and business process knowledge and skills at individual levels have been cited as some of the key business and entrepreneurship challenges in the country.
However, Mamadou said the ultimate aim of the project is to pilot a brand new system where entrepreneurs, scientists and educationalists from Ethiopia could create a learning experience from the implementation of the Visa/STEM Power partnership.
The Ethiopian Job Creation Commission is working to bridge the 14 million jobs gap by 2025 and 20 Million jobs gap by 2030.To this effect, the plan of action for job creation 2020-2025 has been drafted by outlining six strategic objectives. One of the six objectives is building a vibrant private sector by revamping the current support to Medium, Small, Micro Enterprises (MSMEs), effectively supporting high-potential and high-growth MSMEs and improving the quality of business development services.
One of high-potential and high-growth area in this regard is the creation and development of Tech SMEs.
Ethiopia’s top financial elite met at a landmark ceremony on Tuesday to launch a financial literacy program which aims to empower local technology start-up companies to break new barriers in the local and international markets and commit more firepower to technology innovators.
Visa hopes to use its global payments system to help the local commercial banks and the Small and Medium enterprises in Ethiopia access financial services.