Global payments technology company Mastercard has launched a digital education platform bringing together academic and business resources aimed at assisting small businesses to learn and thrive.

The Mastercard Academy’s ‘The Entrepreneur’s Odyssey’ will empower small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with the data insights and knowledge to more efficiently and securely run their enterprises.

“From urban kiosks and rural farmers to fashion stores, service providers and entrepreneurs in countless other sectors, the small business segment in South Africa has faced unprecedented changes in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, further fuelled by the rapid acceleration of digital transformation and e-commerce,” says Mastercard strategic growth vice-chairperson and president Michael Froman.

“The Entrepreneur’s Odyssey is the latest in our Mastercard efforts to deliver on the needs of these critical businesses so they can design, launch, manage and grow their ventures,” he says.

The Entrepreneur’s Odyssey platform has direct links, through free-to-access learning modules under a click-to-watch process on Mastercard Academy, to recorded videos that will bring participants face-to-face with professors from Harvard, Insead, Wharton and the Christiansen Institute of Innovation, alongside an expert Mastercard faculty, which includes seasoned entrepreneurs, investors and Mastercard thought leaders, to teach both the theory and practice of small business success.

The Entrepreneur’s Odyssey is a mobile and tablet-friendly, self-paced curriculum that includes online lessons across 21 modules with a total of 28 videos of about 20 to 30 minutes each.

Following a five-pathway approach, the resources are open to all aspiring and established entrepreneurs with no limits on number of viewers. The platform will also be offered to government partners.

The five pathways include design, launch, manage, grow and community.

“Every small business owner and startup entrepreneur, particularly those with growth ambitions, should join The Entrepreneur’s Odyssey by Mastercard, a highly compelling online educational programme,” says Froman.

With digital presence and operations even more critical now, The Entrepreneur’s Odyssey will help startup and SME owners upgrade their practices to use new tools to address rapidly changing customer expectations.

“The Entrepreneur’s Odyssey provides highly relevant entrepreneurship and management principles, and practical tools that anyone can apply to their businesses successfully,” says former Harvard Business School professor and Entrepreneurship Policy Advisors CEO Daniel Isenberg.

“Small businesses are the backbone of local communities and an engine for the global economy. Because of this, it has never been more important to ensure that entrepreneurs and small business owners have access to educational resources, insights, tools and solutions to recover from the impacts of the pandemic and truly thrive,” says Froman.

In April 2020, Mastercard committed $250-million to support SMEs with digital tools and training over a five-year period in the markets where it operates.

The Entrepreneur’s Odyssey is a progression of other similar SME-related programmes that Mastercard has developed in the past, such as The Mastercard Trust Centre, which provides SME owners with links to curated education, resources and tools from trusted external sources to help them defend their business against cyberattacks.

The Mastercard Digital Doors programme also helps small businesses open their digital doors, get SMEs online, protect their business and ensure they have the right tools to digitally transform.

“The small business segment worldwide is diverse and vast, representing the majority of businesses in local economies. This means SMEs have a significant impact on employment, growth and gross domestic product, with the potential to make a genuine difference in terms of equality, inclusion and community wellbeing.”

In South Africa, Mastercard collaborated with Google and Standard Bank to offer a bundled solution to help support business owners to tackle the economic challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Through the collaboration, SMEs can get free access to Standard Bank’s SimplyBlu, an all-in-one e-commerce solution powered by Mastercard Payment Gateway Services, as well as free Google Ads to the value of R500 until the end of December.

“Small businesses need support to adapt. There is often a knowledge gap, especially for smaller enterprises that have been operating in traditional ways until recently.”

“By using its technology, insights, global expertise and partnership approach, Mastercard aims to empower every business everywhere to grow digitally, become stronger than before, and prosper in a more connected, equal, and inclusive world,” says Mastercard Middle East and Africa customer delivery senior VP Driss Belemlih.