Davos, Switzerland: The EDISON Alliance is the World Economic Forum (WEF) global initiative focused improving digital inclusion supporting underserved communities worldwide. Partners which have made commitments to improve digital inclusion across health, finance, education, and career development include American Tower, Apollo Hospitals, AstraZeneca, Axiata, Bahrain, Bangladesh, BBVA Microfinance Foundation, Bharti Enterprises, #BlackTechFutures Research Institute, Crescent Enterprises, Darsel, Dell Technologies, Digital Opportunity Trust, Digital Skills Foundation, Ericsson, Fondation Jeunesse Numérique, Giga, Global66, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Huawei, Indonesia, Inmarsat, Kredivo, Mamotest, Mastercard, Maternity Foundation, The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives Foundation, Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, MTN, NITI Aayog, Nokia, Qualcomm, Singapore, Southern Communities Initiative (SCI), Tony Elumelu Foundation, University of Cape Town, South Africa, Verizon, Western Union, Women in Tech.
These partners are committed to work towards improving digital inclusion and supporting underserved communities worldwide. WEF’s EDISON Alliance, through its “1 Billion Lives Challenge”, will provide full access to its network for support and resources, actively spotlighting new financing mechanisms to accelerate their goals.
The newest EDISON Alliance partner is Pakistan’s Virtual Remittance Gateway (VRG). Using the USSD technology by introducing, World Bank’s financial inclusion initiative focusing also on women’s financial inclusion, the Asaan Mobile Account (AMA) Scheme, regulated by both State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) (financial institutions) and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) (telcom companies).
Impacting 7.3 million lives in Pakistan in just 14 months, 41% of accounts have been opened by women in contrast to 18% of normal Bank Accounts. VRG is committed to improving the lives of 30 million people in Pakistan by 2025. Providing digital financial services focusing on mobile wallets and low-cost e-payments using USSD technology, VRG’s aim is to provide affordable and accessible solutions to underserved communities in Pakistan with digital banking services, micro-credit, and micro-insurance available to the population unbanked 80% of the in Pakistan.
Believing that everyone irrespective of his or her status in life should have access to digital financial services, VRG is thus excited and privileged to partner with WEF’s EDISON Alliance and join the “1 Billion Lives Challenge” to and make a meaningful impact not only in the lives of millions of Pakistanis but in developing countries all over the world.
