ImageNPay partners with students in Ecuador to protect ecosystems

By Leandra Monteiro

A British FinTech company is partnering with a leading university in South America in a bid to protect vital eco-systems on the equator. Payments platform ImageNPay has launched an internship for students at USFQ (Universidad San Francisco de Quito) in Ecuador. The programme will see interns developing conservation initiatives for equatorial regions.

ImageNPay CEO Michael Donald, a former director of Visa UK, said, “Unless we protect ecosystems on the equator the whole planet will suffer, yet the world is largely ignoring the needs of equatorial nations. Our interns plan to link up with other universities to determine what action needs to be taken.”

The interns will research proposals for environmental remediation projects in the 13 different countries that span the equator.  These countries include: Brazil, Columbia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Gambon, Indonesia, Kenya, Kiribati, Maldives, Republic of Congo, São Tomé and Príncipe, Somalia and Uganda.

Belen Arteaga Romero, Strategic Management Lecturer at USFQ, said, “The project will enable our students to gain international work experience with ImageNPay, whilst seeking to save and preserve equatorial biodiversity.”

ImageNPay is supporting green finance by seeking to make plastic payment cards a thing of the past. It offers the ability to make plastic-free transactions by using a virtual Mastercard that can be customised with bespoke images.

The number of credit, debit and pre-paid plastic cards in circulation globally is expected to hit 30 billion by 2025, according to data published by Statista. Most are made from unrecyclable PVC.

The ImageNPay app was showcased by the British embassy in Ecuador last year as an example of how the UK is promoting green finance. The launch of the intern programme follows the successful completion of a pilot in 2021.