" ITREALMS: MasterCard, Grooming Centre sign MoU to extend electronic payments

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Tuesday, February 24, 2015

MasterCard, Grooming Centre sign MoU to extend electronic payments


DigitalSENSE Business News:

Leader in electronic payments, MasterCard has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)  with Grooming Centre in efforts to extend solutions to 500,000 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in peri-urban and rural parts of Nigeria, reports DigitalSENSE Business News

Grooming Centre, DigitalSENSE Business News gathered is a Nigerian micro-finance organization that seeks to address the gaps in financial services through provision of affordable loans to women-owned MSMEs. 

DigitalSENSE Business News also reports that till date, Grooming Centre has disbursed payments by cash or cheques, which are less efficient than electronic means.

Chief Executive Officer of Grooming Centre, Mr Godwin Nwabunke, explained to DigitalSENSE Business News that under the MoU, the Grooming Centre would pre-load the funds onto MasterCard prepaid cards. 

Business owners, DigitalSENSE Business News gathered could now use their cards to withdraw funds at millions of ATMs or pay for goods and services at merchants that accept MasterCard payments in Nigeria and in over 210 countries globally.  

“There are a huge number of MSMEs that do not have access to any form of formal financial tools or services. Through the provision of electronic payments, these business owners will enjoy more convenient access to capital, be able to better manage and track their spending, save for future needs and protect themselves against unforeseen risks,”  said Nwabunke.

MasterCard and Grooming Centre will also work with various financial institutions to rollout payment devices including Mobile Point of Sale terminals, enabling these MSMEs to accept debit, prepaid and credit cards for the first time.
In her remark, Omokehinde Ojomuyide, Vice President and Area Business Head for West Africa, MasterCard asserted that through this partnership, they are enabling financial inclusion in communities where consumers have largely been unable to use formal payment products and have had to rely on cash.

These payment solutions will help these MSMEs reduce the amount of cash they currently handle, increase sales, and improve cash flow while making it easier and safer for their customers to pay,” she said. 

Ojomuyide also said that MSMEs are essential to the growth of Nigeria’s economy, stressing that this kind of collaboration with Grooming Centre not only supports the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Cashless Nigeria policy, but it will help this vital sector to connect more efficiently to the national and global economy,” says Ojomuyide.
 
DigitalSENSE Business News, recalls that research carried out by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency and the National Bureau of Statistics shows that MSMEs represent 95 per cent of registered businesses in Nigeria and account for 75 per cent of the workforce.
 
+Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) +MasterCard
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Pix: Ezediashi Ofili, VP, Prepaid Product Management MasterCard, (Centre, Left) and Godwin Nwabunke, CEO, Grooming Centre (Centre, Right) shake hands following the signing of an MoU that will extend electronic payments to MSMEs in Nigeria. Looking on are Adesoji Tayo Executive Director, Grooming Centre (Extreme Left) and Uwagbae Uzebu, Director Acceptance Development Non Traditional Channels MasterCard (Extreme Right)
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