Mastercard, the renowned global payment technology company, has teamed up with JazzCash, Pakistan’s largest digital wallet provider with over 43 million accounts, to bring a revolutionary shift in the country’s digital payment landscape.
The collaboration introduces affordable acceptance solutions, including QR code payments, Pay by Link, and Tap on Phone, aiming to transform the way digital payments are conducted in Pakistan. These innovative solutions will provide cost-effective and widespread acceptance opportunities for merchants, particularly those at the bottom of the economic pyramid. Freelancers, gig workers, and underserved micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) will now have the ability to embrace digital payments.
In Pakistan, there are more than 5.2 million MSMEs, with women owning 50% of these enterprises. Despite the significant number of businesses, the country has a limited number of payment acceptance locations, amounting to less than 1,000 locations per million people.
Mastercard’s ambitious goal is to connect 50 million MSMEs worldwide to the digital economy by 2025, with a special focus on empowering 25 million women-owned businesses. This partnership with JazzCash perfectly aligns with their commitment to promoting financial inclusion and empowering over five million enterprises in Pakistan to future-proof their businesses.
Dimitrios Dosis, President of Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa at Mastercard, expresses their dedication to developing a robust, safe, and competitive digital payment ecosystem in Pakistan, focusing on delivering locally relevant solutions and services.
Aamir Ibrahim, CEO of Jazz, highlights their dedication to narrowing the financial inclusion gap in Pakistan, particularly for women. Collaborations like this enable them to address the needs of previously underserved market segments, allowing businesses and individuals to participate in the digital economy.
Presently, digital and card transactions account for only around 1% of personal consumption expenditure (PCE) in Pakistan, with limited digital payment acceptance mainly concentrated in large urban centers and high-end merchants. Through their partnership, Mastercard and JazzCash aim to make payments accessible to the masses, expanding the acceptance infrastructure and enabling consumers to conduct digital transactions at various commerce locations. This joint effort seeks to usher Pakistan into a new era of digital payments and foster financial inclusion for all.
