Eva-Maria Baumer, Vice-President for Corporate Engagement at the Office of the Vice Chairman at Mastercard, explains how Mastercard cares for financial inclusion and lives by its standard of “Doing well by doing good”.
Highlights of the interview:
- Public value occurs when the private and the public sectors work together to bring value back to citizens and society in how they conduct business. Corporates have a responsibility to serve better society and all communities they serve. Having a positive impact on their employees, society at large, and the environment is essential to big corporations today.
- Any sustainable business today needs to be thought and developed with a long-term perspective. Long-term management drives positive impact.
- Since its founding in 2006, the Mastercard Foundation has grown from a start-up with just three employees to one of the largest foundations in the world with commitments of over USD 2.2 billion to increase financial inclusion and access to youth learning in Africa.
- Sustainability is incorporated into the corporate strategy: In 2015, Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga committed publicly to include 500 million excluded people by 2020.
- Tone from the top is essential to success and to allow key corporate values to cascade down in the whole corporation.
- New metrics are needed to properly measure social impact. In their absence, Mastercard reports its impact against the background of its public commitment to include 500 million excluded people by 2020.
- Corporates need to work together with regulators and the public sector to raise awareness about the needs for a sustainable world.
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