Mastercard expands partnership with CNote for inclusive economy

By Pavithra R

Mastercard is reinforcing its commitment to supporting the prosperity of 25 million women entrepreneurs and 50 million small businesses in the digital economy through its partnership with female-founded impact investment platform CNote.

Under the partnership, Mastercard and the Mastercard Impact Fund are collectively deploying $20 mn into the CNote Promise Account, an insured, 100% impact cash management solution to provide funding for underserved communities and help women and minority-owned businesses across the U.S. to recover and grow.

Through the $20 mn commitment to the CNote Promise Account, funds will be deposited into Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) banks and Low-Income Designated CUs that focus on supporting communities of color & low-income communities across the United States. This is part of Mastercard’s commitment to helping close the racial wealth and opportunity gap, starting in 7 cities across the country. The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth has collaborated with leading CDFI organizations including Accion Opportunity Fund, Center for Economic Opportunity, Community Reinvestment Fund USA (CRF), and Grameen America to help them integrate digital technologies so as to help connect micro and small businesses to the capital they need to grow.

“The inequalities that exist are deeply ingrained in historic systems and processes, which means we have to make an ongoing, active effort to redesign them. Financial freedom and economic opportunity should be accessible to all – and not denied because of the color of someone’s skin or where they were born. This is what we are fighting for at CNote,” said Catherine Berman, CEO of CNote.

Mastercard is stepping up its efforts to ensure women small business owners have the resources, tools, inspiration, guidance,and connection they need to survive and thrive. Through collaboration with Create & Cultivate, the firm is deploying meaningful digital mentorship resources including their second annual Small Business Summit, Priceless Conversations Video Series and WorkParty podcast.

“Given the state of the world, we are proud to have a partner like Mastercard, who continues to pivot along with us and the small business community. We are excited to be hosting the second annual Small Business Summit together with multi-hyphenate businesswomen such as Kate Hudson, Tika Sumpter, Arian Simone, and more, to celebrate National Women’s Small Business month and provide insightful conversations and tools needed to survive and thrive,” said Jaclyn Johnson, founder and CEO of Create & Cultivate.

The efforts build on Mastercard’s commitment to close the wealth and opportunity gap for minority and underserved communities while bringing 50 mn small businesses and 25 mn women entrepreneurs to the digital economy by 2025.