Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic - Mastercard, Banco BHD and INCAE Business School, through its Center for Inclusive and Sustainable Leadership (CELIS), announced a partnership to offer a new program, Empresarias Progresando (EMPRO), under the global Mastercard Strive initiative - with the objective of supporting the growth, digitization and financial resilience of women-led SMEs in the Dominican Republic.
Mastercard Strive is a portfolio of philanthropic programs - supported by Mastercard's Center for Inclusive Growth - that enables small businesses around the world to thrive in the digital economy. With programs implemented around the world, Strive supports more than 10 million small businesses to help them unlock access to capital, markets and digital solutions, as well as build their skills through training and mentorship.
The one-year EMPRO program in the Dominican Republic builds on a collaboration between INCAE Business School, Mastercard and other strategic partners for programs in Honduras and Guatemala, which demonstrated how targeted digital training can unlock access to formal markets and digital financial services for women-led SMEs. The program in the Dominican Republic will take learnings and knowledge from the region to provide digital training and mentoring to 40 women-led businesses in essential areas such as online sales, digital marketing and digital financial services.
Women-led businesses, which comprise more than half of all micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the Dominican Republic, play a crucial role in the country's economic growth. Despite their growing entrepreneurial spirit, they need greater support to digitize their operations and unlock access to financing, especially considering that 60% of Dominican women entrepreneurs are unbanked, according to a study by the BBVA Microfinance Foundation (FMBBVA).
"Despitebeing engines of employment and prosperity in their communities, women entrepreneurs continue to face challenges that limit their growth. For this reason, we are proud to collaborate with INCAE Business School and Banco BHD to offer them a comprehensive training program that allows them to acquire the knowledge, tools and mentoring networks they require to connect to the digital economy, grow their businesses and reach their full potential," said Tomás Alonso, Country Manager for Dominican Republic and Haiti at Mastercard.
From digital training to digital adoption
The training will be delivered through Mastercard Strive's "Hora de Crecer" digital platform and will include virtual self-study, virtual classes, tutorials and personalized mentoring. Participants will also receive intensive training in a week-long bootcamp at the INCAE campus in Costa Rica. This will be followed by an in-person showcase event with large companies and investors, allowing small businesswomen to expand their market base and explore new sales opportunities.
"To drive equitable business success and contribute to the economic development of Latin America, it is vital to strengthen the capabilities of women entrepreneurs, provide them with up-to-date tools, digital readiness and expand their access to financial resources and markets. For all these reasons, we are very proud of this collaboration with organizations with whom we share values to make a change that will impact entire communities in the Dominican Republic," said Gabriela Lucke Guzman, Director of INCAE CELIS.
Likewise, Adrián Guzmán, Vice President of Segments of Banco BHD, stated that "for our organization it is of great significance to be part of this program that promotes the development of small and medium-sized companies led by women, by training their top representatives in cutting-edge topics that will move the needles of their success".
The full training and mentoring grant, which is open until August 16, will equip Dominican women-led small and medium-sized businesses with the digital skills needed to execute targeted digital marketing campaigns, sell online, reach larger customers in priority markets, and improve their financial resource management practices. In addition, Banco BHD will offer them a series of tailored finance webinars and facilitate direct access to credit services for selected businesses.
Globally, Mastercard has provided 27 million women entrepreneurs with solutions that can help them grow their businesses since 2020, surpassing its goal of 25 million by 2025. Through its global Strive initiative, Mastercard has previously launched an e-commerce toolkit for microentrepreneurs in Latin America and the Caribbean, offering digital training content in Spanish and Portuguese to equip small businesses with essential skills that enable them to sell on social media platforms and other digital marketplaces. Mastercard Strive has also formed strategic alliances with local financial service providers, fintechs and e-commerce platforms to reach and offer small businesses in Chile, Mexico, Colombia, Panama and Peru digital training content.
Background: Women entrepreneurs and the MSME landscape in the Dominican Republic.
Entrepreneurship in the Dominican Republic is currently at a high point, with strong confidence and post-pandemic optimism among entrepreneurs. A significant majority of adults (80%) believe they have the skills and drive to become entrepreneurs, while 38% still harbor a notable fear of failure [1]. Women lead more than 55% of local MSMEs, evidencing the crucial role of female entrepreneurship in driving economic growth, fostering innovation and social development. However, challenges remain, such as limited sources of financing, access to markets and digital gaps. These barriers, identified by Mastercard's Women Entrepreneurs Index 2021 [2], underscore the critical need for improved digital infrastructure, skills development, and greater digital inclusion to unlock the full potential of women-led small businesses to contribute to employment and economic progress in the Dominican Republic.
