Article reposted from www.techweez.com. Written by Saruni Maina on June 23, 2017
“Following the realization that refugees can be emerging economies in their own right, Western Union and Mastercard have come together to turn refugee communities into a new customer set.
According to the UNHCR, Kakuma refugee camp has 164,571 registered refugees and asylum-seekers. UNHCR notes that the camp hosts more than 500 merchants who sell farm produce, hardware and electronics and clothes.
Tearsheet reports that Western Union and Mastercard are working on creating a digital infrastructure model for refugee camps, with Kenya as their test bed, focusing on mobile money, digital vouchers and cards that remove the intermediaries and losses associated with in-kind donations, brings funds directly to beneficiaries and gives them some control over their finances.
The two corporates plan to use Mastercard’s digital voucher program to provide chip cards to refugees and host community members. The cards would be loaded with “points” that the holder can spend on everyday purchases.”
Read more at: https://techweez.com/2017/06/23/mastercard-western-union-kakuma-mobile-digital-payments/
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