• While technology has served as a gateway for many, patchy internet access and the lack of affordable tools and access to digital skills has created a digital divide that risks barring the pathway to growth.
• A new set of Principles offers a vision that makes digitally-led financial inclusion a natural outcome of an innovative and competitive financial system.
• The Principles have been launched by the Edison Alliance.

This article was first published on the World Economic Forum Global Agenda.

Where trade thrives, people thrive. This has been true for centuries. From the agoras of ancient Greece to the bustling bazaars throughout the world today, trade has always been a vehicle for connections and commerce – and also for the exchange of cultures and ideas. Opportunity was a matter of getting to the marketplace.

These days, more and more of the work we do and the widgets we exchange are digitized. Even before the pandemic sparked a rapid shift to e-commerce and digitization, services and data flows were outpacing goods as the main units of trade. In theory, the internet became the global commons, a place where anyone with a solid business idea and internet access could link up to the supply chain system and become a legitimate entrepreneur.

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Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments industry. Our mission is to connect and power an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions safe, simple, smart and accessible. Using secure data and networks, partnerships and passion, our innovations and solutions help individuals, financial institutions, governments and businesses realize their greatest potential. With connections across more than 210 countries and territories, we are building a sustainable world that unlocks priceless possibilities for all.

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