Mastercard Launches ‘Built Slight. Moving Strong.’ to Bolster SMB Resilience in MENA
Small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are currently facing a perfect storm of trade disruptions, spiking energy costs, and logistics strains driven by regional conflict. To counter these pressures, Mastercard has launched “Built Small. Moving Strong.,” a strategic initiative designed to provide the financial tools and digital capabilities necessary for these businesses to maintain operations and prepare for economic recovery.
The program isn’t a standalone effort. it’s a collaborative ecosystem. By uniting banks, government entities, and strategic partners, Mastercard aims to deliver liquidity and actionable insights at scale. According to Onur Kursun, vice president of commercial and new payment flows for EEMEA at Mastercard, the initiative focuses on ensuring businesses have the digital enablement required to not only survive disruption but to emerge as agile leaders in the next phase of growth.
Strategic Partnerships and Financial Support
A core component of “Built Small. Moving Strong.” is the deployment of tangible financial resources and tools through key regional partnerships. These collaborations target the most immediate pain points for SMBs: credit access and operational liquidity.
- Credit Expansion: Mastercard collaborated with RAKBANK to commit 2 billion AED (approximately $540 million) in additional credit limits to support business continuity.
- Commercial Tooling: The company partnered with First Abu Dhabi Bank to launch a dedicated SMB commercial card, streamlining how small businesses manage their spending.
- Direct Incentives: Through a partnership with Pemo, SMBs that spend using Pemo cards through June can receive up to 500 United Arab Emirates Dirham (AED) (about $136).
Digital Enablement and Ecosystem Support
Beyond direct financing, Mastercard is focusing on the structural “enablement” of the SMB sector. This involves working directly with government entities to provide licensing support and targeted initiatives that lower the barrier to entry and operation for small enterprises.
The program also emphasizes mentorship and knowledge sharing. Mastercard partnered with the entrepreneurs’ network Female Fusion to deliver interactive sessions. These sessions provide SMB owners with the tools and insights needed to optimize business performance during volatile periods.
To further encourage international trade and spending, Mastercard introduced a campaign offering a 300 AED (about $82) Amazon voucher to SMBs that spend more than 3,000 AED (about $817) abroad using their Mastercard cards.
The Broader Vision: Global Financial Inclusion
This regional push is part of a much larger global strategy. In April, Mastercard committed to connecting an additional 500 million underbanked people and small businesses to the digital economy. This is a significant scaling effort, building on a decade of work where the company already helped connect 1 billion people and 65 million small businesses.
By targeting the 2 billion people globally who remain underbanked or unbanked, Mastercard is positioning digital payment infrastructure as a primary tool for financial resilience.
- Objective: Mitigate the impact of regional conflict, logistics costs, and trade disruptions for MENA SMBs.
- Liquidity Boost: 2 billion AED in additional credit limits via RAKBANK.
- Digital Tools: New commercial cards with First Abu Dhabi Bank and spending incentives via Pemo.
- Strategic Goal: Part of a global mission to bring 500 million more underbanked entities into the digital economy.
Forward Outlook
The success of “Built Small. Moving Strong.” will likely depend on the seamless integration of government licensing support and private sector liquidity. By combining high-level policy support with ground-level financial incentives, Mastercard is attempting to create a blueprint for how global fintech players can stabilize regional economies during geopolitical instability. For the SMBs of the MENA region, the shift toward digital enablement isn’t just about efficiency—it’s about survival.