…One of my favorite stories comes from Mexico. Five years ago, Ana Rosa’s parents called on her to help with the family business, a grocery store and restaurant situated in the countryside of rural Chihuahua in the north of the country. Ana Rosa’s priority was to adopt digital payments, even giving customers the ability to pay household bills with credit cards at her store. When Ana Rosa’s parents operated the business, 100% of payments were made in cash. Five years later, 70% are digital, and sales have tripled. Most important to me, is that she talks about how this changed her quality of life. She can spend more time with her wife and daughter knowing that her business accounts are safe and just one click away.
Most of us take it for granted that we can open a bank or a credit card. But the truth is, according to the World Bank, close to one-third of adults — 1.7 billion — are still unbanked, and have no access to a transaction account. About half of unbanked people include women in poor households in rural areas or out of the workforce. What can be done and what is being done to promote more financial inclusion? To address this Authority Magazine started a new series about Companies Helping To Promote Financial Inclusion. As part of this series I had the pleasure to interview Beth Hurvitz
Beth Hurvitz leads the global social impact organization for Visa Inc. In this role, Ms. Hurvitz is responsible for delivering on the company’s social impact vision to be a force for good that advances equitable, inclusive and sustainable economic growth for everyone, everywhere. By leveraging the scale of Visa’s network, products, financial resources, and the collective expertise and commitment of its employees, along with the resources of Visa Foundation, Ms. Hurvitz and her global team help to realize Visa’s mission through empowering small and micro businesses, enabling equitable access to the financial and digital ecosystem, and strengthening the communities in which we live and work.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to ‘get to know you’. How do you define “Leadership”? Can you explain what you mean or give an example?
At Visa, we believe economies that include everyone, everywhere uplift everyone, everywhere. As Global Head of Social Impact at Visa, I lead a global team that catalyzes the company to realize this vision by leveraging Visa’s scale, networks and products, collective expertise and commitment of its employees. My team focuses especially on empowering small and micro businesses (SMBs), enabling financial and digital equity and inclusion, and strengthening the communities in which we live and work. We are also proud to support the Visa Foundation, which prioritizes the growth of gender diverse and inclusive small and micro businesses through grant making and impact investing.
To me, “Leadership” is about guiding. A strong leader inspires others, sets direction and taps into strong management skills to help their team achieve a common goal. One of my most satisfying leadership roles was as Chief Operating Officer for The League (now part of generationOn), a non-profit organization whose mission is to empower young people to solve serious social problems through voluntary service. I helped launch The League, growing it to more than 100,000 students nationwide at that time.
One of the most important — and challenging — aspects of leadership today is uniting a team and organization in a highly dynamic context. What do I mean? At Visa, my team has fabulously diverse backgrounds and expertise, and, like the company, diverse responsibilities and priorities. Like so many, we have spent two years working remotely, spread around the world. My role is to enable and inspire — one of Visa’s leadership principles — each of my team members and many other colleagues to deliver effectively, and in a coordinated way. To achieve this, I promote a recognition of the deep commitment that we share, encourage very open communication that focuses on what we are achieving together, while recognizing differences in contexts, needs and professional styles. And then I get practical and focused. I set common goals, outline expectations and provide clear direction that enable team members and colleagues across the company to deliver specific outcomes, and to grow, both professionally and personally.
Ok, thank you for all that. Now let’s move to the main focus of our interview. Let’s start with a basic definition so that all of our readers are on the same page. What exactly is Financial Inclusion?
Visa defines financial inclusion as a world where everyone, everywhere can use secure, convenient and affordable payment and other financial services to meet daily needs and long-term goals. Financial inclusion is a well-recognized goal by public and private sectors, including by the United Nations and World Bank Group, the G20 and global financial standard setting bodies including the Bank for International Settlements as well as dozens of national central banks around the world.
Today, nearly four billion adults around the world have a basic account that lets them pay for goods and services, receive money or save. What’s remarkable and really exciting is how this has happened, and the pace. More than a billion people gained access to these services in the last 10 years alone, in great part due to bank services becoming widely available outside of the formal brick and mortar branch building — at agent locations including the corner store and over the mobile phone, especially. These are great examples of the innovative use of digital technology and corresponding innovations in public policy and financial regulations.
What does it mean to be “unbanked”?
In a strict definition, to be unbanked means that a person does not have access to any formal financial service, including bank accounts, payment cards or insurance. The World Bank’s latest statistics from 2017 counted a shocking 1.7 billion adults in this category. Many of these people are concentrated in geographic areas that are traditionally lower income and less developed. But there are significant pockets of people in developed countries as well.
But “unbanked” captures only part of what we at Visa see as a fundamental barrier to societal well-being. Billions more people are underserved by financial services, without the right kind of products to meet their needs, without convenience or trust and without the skills to use them effectively. Clear evidence exists that digital technologies can accelerate and deepen progress toward numerous social goals at all levels, and inclusive economic growth.
Unfortunately, many people are being left behind, which underscores the importance of financial digital equity and inclusion. Visa defines this as the assurance that all individuals and businesses are provided opportunities and skills to participate in, and receive full benefits from, financial digital platforms and the digital economy. I believe that digital inclusion is a key component of rebuilding for a more inclusive and equitable world, and for closing the gaps in social and economic equity that can correlate to the unbanked population.
For the benefit of our readers, can you explain some of the typical reasons why a person might be unbanked?
There are two important aspects to understand this in practice. The first is whether the place or ecosystem where a person lives provides the inclusive payment, savings, credit or other financial service in a way that is accessible, secure and responsible to people and to small business owners. Product innovations and national policies, regulations and industry standards have made so much possible, but there is more that can be done to reach underserved groups. With the advent of digital financial services, mobile phones and internet are important gateway technologies but we often see that lack of telecommunications infrastructure and products, and high costs remain barriers. We also see that lack of formal identification, including a digital identity, is a challenge for many underserved people.
The second and equally important aspect is whether a person is fully enabled. A lack of education, including financial literacy and digital skills, is a key component to why a person may be unbanked, underserved or outside the formal digital economy. This is essential for individuals and for small and micro business owners to participate in today’s economy, and thrive in a post pandemic world.
Can you tell our readers a bit about your work to promote Financial Inclusion?
Digital payments are an important element of participation in an increasingly digital world. They are often the first formal financial product a person uses, and thus an onramp to use other formal financial products. Digital payments need to be available, convenient-to-access, affordable, reliable and secure for everyone across the globe. Visa brings our global network of diverse partners and clients, and world class technology to address this.
One example of this is our work to support small and medium size businesses (SMBs), which account for more than 90% of global businesses and 50% to 60% of global employment, according to the World Bank Group. Throughout the pandemic, we have gathered evidence that those SMBs that used digital payments and tools were more resilient, adapting to the crisis faster and more nimbly, and getting government or other aid faster. In recognition of this urgent need to help get local communities back to business, Visa announced a global commitment in June 2020 to digitally enable 50 million SMBs worldwide, through locally designed solutions and programs to enable SMBs to drive efficiency and sales through the acceptance of digital payments, and to make their own payments digitally. We are also providing important digital skills and education to business owners to help them make this rapid adjustment. I’m proud to share that in the first year since making this commitment, Visa digitally enabled 16 million SMBs, providing greater access to the digital economy.
Without saying names, can you share a story about a person or business who was helped by your initiative? This may be obvious to you, but it will be helpful to spell this out.
One of my favorite stories comes from Mexico. Five years ago, Ana Rosa’s parents called on her to help with the family business, a grocery store and restaurant situated in the countryside of rural Chihuahua in the north of the country. Ana Rosa’s priority was to adopt digital payments, even giving customers the ability to pay household bills with credit cards at her store. When Ana Rosa’s parents operated the business, 100% of payments were made in cash. Five years later, 70% are digital, and sales have tripled. Most important to me, is that she talks about how this changed her quality of life. She can spend more time with her wife and daughter knowing that her business accounts are safe and just one click away.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
Visa’s Beth Hurvitz On How They Are Helping To Promote Financial Inclusion was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.