In its own attempt to further economic expansion across industries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), Mastercard as a global pioneer in payment innovation and technology is looking to build up the capabilities of small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) marked by its increased focus on the sector in the coming year.

Speaking with the Jamaica Observer at the recently concluded Mastercard LAC Innovation forum held in Miami, Florida, country manager for Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Dalton Fowles said that plans are afoot to seriously amplify efforts which will see the company positioning to curate a more tailored suite of solutions for offer to the largely underserved SME grouping.

“We see quite a bit of opportunities for growth but for 2024 our focus will be on SMEs as they remain an untapped sector of which governments right across the region continues to speak about and we believe we have a wide range of products that will certainly help us to transform these businesses and to help them grow,” he told the Business Observer in an exclusive interview last week.

Assessing the untapped potential of the sector which statistics indicate contributes heavily to gross domestic product (GDP) and also employs a large percentage of the workforce, Fowles, in pointing to the vast potential of the sector, said it continues to operate below standard owing largely to its numerous challenges which included the inability of businesses to freely access credit, digitise platforms and to protect their investments from cyberattacks.

“Through Mastercard’s intervention in the new year we therefore want to enable them to receive and/or make payments and to digitise as we also give them access to credit, all of which is very important to their well-being. Working through our partnerships with the banks and other stakeholders, we are behind the launch of a number of new products developed to offer increased offerings to SMEs,” the regional executive said.

“As a global company we have a number of products including our Star Path programme which we are also at some point expecting to bring to the region,” he added.

Mastercard, through the Star Path programme developed as a global engagement product, provides support for start-ups with an aim to help them scale-up. With a wide range of products focused on blockchain and digital assets, open banking and small businesses, the programme helps mainly fintechs to access strategic partnerships, opportunities and engagement through a global network. Since 2014, the programme is said to have supported over 370 start-ups across 50 countries, helping them to connect with more than 15,000 network connections around the world.

The global payment company currently finalising work on a new tap solution being done in collaboration with a fintech company, further said it hopes to roll out the service through its issuers in the region by mid-2024 and beyond.

“We are also doing a lot of thought leadership not just with our banks but also with government as we engage key stakeholders right across the spectrum to help us accelerate growth. We have about four or five different platforms that are available through our issuers to small businesses,” Fowles noted.

He said that in working with the banks to bring low-cost, acceptance solutions to the small man, the company’s ultimate goal is to lessen the cash-centric nature of most small business as it connects more of them to the payment ecosystem and to help them build out a digital history in what experts have estimated to be a trillion-dollar digital payments industry.

“By looking at a number of other solutions including bringing more partners to the region, we want to give customers more choices in terms of the financial institutions they may want to partner with. Through co-creation and increased partnerships we therefore seek to bring more solutions to the region.

“We do consider the Caribbean a major market and as such we are very deliberate about developing in the space, this as we ensure that all the great products available in Asia, Europe and the US also become available in the region. Outside of our card products we are also making sure that through artificial intelligence (AI) and cyber solutions we also secure our solutions to boost customer confidence,” Fowles stated.