Kenyan start-up MESH, the online community for young entrepreneurs in the informal economy, has announced that it has reached 150,000 members.
Launched to mass market in November 2021, MESH connects young entrepreneurs and small business owners to vital networks, tailored training content, and for the first time, access to opportunities and services in the formal economy. The new growth milestone follows a one-year partnership with Mastercard Strive Community, a philanthropic program of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth and Caribou Digital, which provided early stage grant funding and technical support to develop and scale MESH.
With additional early stage investment from Shujaaz Inc and funding from TRANSFORM, MESH was founded with a mission to unlock the potential of the informal economy in Kenya, which, it’s estimated, is where 41% of the country’s GDP is generated. New research also shows that 95% of young Kenyans work in the country’s informal sector, with 15-24-year-olds adding $520 million to the Kenyan economy every month.
But young entrepreneurs in the informal sector face significant barriers to growth. Often loans, services and work opportunities in the formal economy are out of reach, their networks are limited to family and friends, and they don’t have access to the relevant tools and training they need to start up and scale up their businesses. Meanwhile, major corporations – from multinational fast-moving consumer goods companies (FMCGs) to telecommunications providers and financial institutions – say they are struggling to reach this sizeable consumer market and tap into the potential of these entrepreneurs.
With the backing of its early stage supporters, including Mastercard Strive Community, MESH is changing things by challenging traditional conceptions around employment and redefining what the future of work looks like in economies like Kenya’s.
Anuj Tanna, co-founder and CEO of MESH, commented: “The early stage grant funding and support of Strive Community has been instrumental in enabling us to build, start up and scale MESH. We’re so proud that MESH is now connecting 150,000 young entrepreneurs to each other – and for the first time, to valuable gig work and training opportunities with our growing community of commercial partners. In particular, the partnership with Strive Community has been instrumental in helping us to refine, test and scale our innovative learning models that are enabling thousands of small business owners to build the real-world skills they need to thrive.”
The funding from Mastercard’s Strive Community has supported MESH in testing, designing and scaling its innovative training model, enabling young people to learn in bite-sized, peer-led, digital-first formats – in their own language and on their own terms. The skills programs available through the platform are also enabling MESHers to build their own digital ID and directly unlock new valuable work and services opportunities with MESH’s commercial partners.
Natasha Jamal, the VP of Social Impact, Strive, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, said: “Facilitating access to networks for entrepreneurs is core to the work of Strive Community; the early success of our collaboration with MESH highlights the impact we can have when we combine this access to resources with the transformative power of digital technology. The milestone MESH has achieved in reaching 150,000 entrepreneurs in Kenya is proof positive that we can bring life to economies across the globe by empowering small business owners with digital solutions that not only meet their needs, but help them make progress toward their biggest goals.”
MESH is also demonstrating sustainable demand for its product, as a range of commercial partners from multinational corporations to local start-ups join the platform to unlock direct access to the growing MESH community.
MESH is the first online community for young entrepreneurs in Kenya’s informal economy. The platform offers young people: access to tailored business tools, training, a peer-network, and mentorship; seamless access to financial services, capital, and formal sector opportunities; control over their livelihoods and growth prospects; and autonomy, social capital, and personal validation. Launched in 2021, the platform is already thriving. Today, MESH has more than 150,000 members who are logging in to connect, learn, share tips, access new opportunities, and to start up and scale their businesses. The MESH app is available for free through Google Play or on the web.
Strive Community is a global philanthropic initiative – developed by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth and Caribou Digital – that aims to support the resilience and growth of five million small businesses around the world. The initiative will enable these small businesses, many of which have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, to reach their full potential as catalysts of inclusive growth by supporting them to digitalize their operations, unlock their access to financial services and more effectively participate in digital markets. By partnering with the private sector, civic, and government organizations from all over the world, Strive Community will employ a digital and data-first approach, helping small businesses increase their use of digital technology and boost their economic potential. Strive Community is funded by the Mastercard Impact Fund. The Fund is administered by the Center for Inclusive Growth which advances equitable and sustainable economic growth and financial inclusion around the world.
Strive Community is one of several programs under Mastercard’s Strive portfolio of philanthropic programs which are aimed at helping small businesses around the world thrive in the digital economy. Through targeted grant-making and local partnerships, Strive empowers small businesses to get capital, go digital, and grow their networks and know-how – all with the goal of building more resilient enterprises for the future.
The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth advances equitable and sustainable economic growth and financial inclusion around the world. The Center leverages the company’s core assets and competencies, including data insights, expertise and technology, while administering the philanthropic Mastercard Impact Fund, to produce independent research, scale global programs and empower a community of thinkers, leaders and doers on the front lines of inclusive growth.
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