Accelerating progress on the SDGs through financial inclusion
October 28, 2024 | By Reem Tannir
With only six years left to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), international organizations, governments and corporations around the world are mobilizing forces to drive sustainability across the board. And since this momentous and multifaceted task requires collective efforts, they are harnessing the power of partnerships to amplify their impact. At Mastercard, we are committed to leveraging our vast global network to achieve the SDGs, and driving financial inclusion is an important part of our collective efforts.
In July 2024, we announced the launch of the Mastercard Challenge on Financial Inclusion for the SDGs in collaboration with the Ministry of Sustainable Development of Bahrain, The BENEFIT Company (BENEFIT), the Labour Fund (Tamkeen) and StartUp Bahrain. Together, we invited Bahrain's university students to submit innovative solutions to real-life challenges that can enhance financial inclusion and advance progress on the SDGs.
In the run-up to the finals, the selected teams underwent intensive three-week summer bootcamp and one-on-one mentorship sessions, where they honed their ideas and developed prototypes under the guidance of industry experts.
The final pitch event was attended by H.E. Noor bint Ali AlKhulaif, Minister of Sustainable Development, H.E. Rawan bint Najeeb Tawfiqi, Minister of Youth, and fintech experts. The panel of judges, including Shamina Singh from Mastercard and Shaikh Mohamed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa from Beyon Digital, evaluated the presentations based on their innovation, disruptive potential, feasibility, impact and alignment with the SDGs.
The winning solution, Hayat, is a carbon-offsetting platform designed to boost climate change mitigation efforts in Bahrain by offering carbon credits for tree planting. Hayat, meaning ‘life’ in Arabic, was developed by Ahmed Alawadhi and Marya Alabbasi from the Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance (BIBF) and Matia Ahmed from Bahrain Polytechnic.
The winners were rewarded with a visit to Mastercard’s EEMEA headquarters in Dubai, complimentary enrollment in the NFTs Decoded course offered by Mastercard Academy and a paid internship at BENEFIT to develop and scale their solutions. They will also have access to technical expertise, mentorship and training from Mastercard and BENEFIT, and engage with selected StartUp Bahrain resources and partners.
We were very impressed by the solutions presented by some of Bahrain’s brightest young minds at the Mastercard Challenge finals. Their creativity and commitment to solving for tomorrow through homegrown innovation was truly remarkable. I look forward to following the students’ journeys as they continue to drive positive change in Bahrain and beyond.
