Visa has become the latest financial services firm to join forces with mobile-based learning application Trace Academia.
In April, the Mastercard Foundation announced its partnership with Trace Academia, as part of its Young Africa Works strategy to enable 30 million young people to access dignified and fulfilling work by 2030.
Introduced by popular music video TV channel Trace, Trace Academia offers free courses and certificates dedicated to jobs, entrepreneurship and soft skills. It is available on Android and iOS.
In a statement, Visa says the newly-formed partnership falls under its commitment to digitally-enable 50 million small and micro businesses (SMBs) worldwide, to help local communities get back to business, and drive SMBs to greater resiliency and growth.
Furthermore, it is an extension of Visa’s Practical Business Skills (PBS) initiative, which aims to enable SMBs with the resources they need to thrive.
Visa’s PBS has been reimagined into an interactive course on the Trace Academia platform covering different skills, including business planning, marketing and securing funding, notes the statement.
“Practical business skills build on the success of our flagship financial education initiative, practical money skills, used by more than 40 million people worldwide,” says Aida Diarra, senior vice-president and head of Visa in Sub-Saharan Africa.
“It provides content suitable for a wide variety of SMBs in any location and can be accessed through a series of 50 videos, on a variety of key topics, such as managing, organising, digitising, protecting and growing a business.”
SMBs are said to account for more than 90% of global businesses and as the source of 50% to 60% of global employment.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic saw small businesses across the globe encounter a hard time, resulting in closed shop doors and reduced foot traffic.
As a result, there’s been concerted effort to ensure they have access to educational resources, insights, tools and solutions to recover from the impacts of the pandemic.
For Visa, building a co-branded platform with Trace Academia is a way to further expand awareness and access to the business skills education resources available for SMBs.
“Our partnership with Trace Academia allows us to extend our impact in making business skills more accessible to youth who are one of the key drivers of entrepreneurship on the continent,” concludes Diarra.
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