Visa champions financial inclusion for women, youth in Southeast Asia

Visa, a world leader in digital payments, is committed to bridging the digital divide and fostering financial inclusion in Southeast Asia by equipping women and the youth with the skills they need to thrive in the digital economy.

According to a recent OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) report, rural communities, women, and certain ethnic minorities face significant barriers to adopting digital financial tools. These challenges can hinder economic growth and limit opportunities, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)—the backbone of Southeast Asia’s economies.

Visa is addressing these issues head-on by launching various social impact initiatives across the region. These programs focus on enhancing digital and financial literacy among women SME owners and young adults.

In 2023, Visa digitally enabled 10 million SMEs in Asia Pacific. Visa Foundation has committed over $47 million in Southeast Asia, supporting two million women-led SMEs and sustaining 500,000 jobs. It also recently pledged $100M to APEC economies over five years.

Visa and Visa Foundation forge strategic partnerships that help advance digitization and financial inclusion in communities across Southeast Asia.

Visa’s financial literacy program in the Philippines, launched in 2017, has educated over 36,000 students and teachers in 64 schools across 21 cities.

Visa works with Tanghalang Pilipino, the resident theater company of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, and Teach for the Philippines (TFP), a non-profit organization, with support from Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. The program involves a Tagalog skit presented in schools, which later became two web series, centered around financial literacy.

TFP was also a recent recipient of a Visa Foundation grant that will support student development programs and leadership development programs that deploy transformative teachers and changemakers in schools and education governance agencies.

Visa has also launched several social impact initiatives in Indonesia, Vietnam, and Cambodia.