Competitions

About the Fund

PHOTO AND VIDEO COMPETITION

Recently, the Fund launched a competition that sought to highlight the work that participants have done so far as well as their contributions in the mission towards financial inclusion and rural prosperity by giving them the opportunity to tell their story through their own lens. Many participants took part by sharing moving photographs and videos to the competition. The competition closed on 31st August, 2021

COVID-19 Recovery and Resilience Challenge

Based on the impact of COVID-19 on the Fund portfolio and beneficiaries this competition was open to existing participants only and provided opportunity for potential recovery and resilience support. This competition reinforced the Fund's commitment towards ensuring that financial services continue to deliver value to people living in - and connected with - the rural economy in Sub-Saharan Africa, and support them through the crisis towards prosperous and sustainable livelihoods. The competition closed on 30 June 2020.

2017 AND 2018 COMPETITION

In this period, the Mastercard Foundation Fund for Rural Prosperity was seeking to identify new and/or scalable financial products and services with potential to transform lives in Sub-Saharan Africa. The 2017/2018 Competition was open to project proposals which would be implemented in one of the 24 African countries of focus that the Fund prioritises. The ‘rolling’ competition format presented an opportunity for high potential applications which were unsuccessful in one round to have time to strengthen their applications and re-enter them before the next closing date. The fourth and final call for applications closed on 31 January 2018.

INNOVATION COMPETITION

In this period, the Fund ran an independent Innovation focused competition, seeking applications from organizations aiming to design, pilot, test, and launch new financial products and services to effectively meet the financing needs of people living in poverty in rural and agricultural areas. The last Innovation competition closed on 5 April 2016. Applications were assessed and participants selected to join the Fund portfolio.

SCALING COMPETITION

In this period, the Fund ran an independent competition focused on Scaling ideas. The fund received applications for proven concepts, products and business models that could be expanded into new geographies and markets. The last Scaling competition closed on 15 June 2016. Applications were assessed and participants selected to join the Fund portfolio.

SELECTED PARTICIPANTS

Several companies have benefited from the support being provided by the Mastercard Foundation Fund for Rural Prosperity. They can be viewed by the competitions that were successfully selected as below:

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