In 2020, CARE and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth launched the Ignite program with a bold vision: to unlock the potential of women-led micro and small enterprises (MSEs) by addressing the systemic barriers that keep them financially underserved. While the COVID-19 pandemic delayed initial program activities, it also created a critical opportunity – to slow down, listen deeply, and invest in building strong local partnerships that would become the cornerstone of a sustainable, scalable model.
With Ignite, we focused on laying the groundwork in three diverse markets – Vietnam, Peru, and Pakistan. Each country had its own regulatory frameworks, market maturity, and social dynamics. Instead of applying a one-size-fits-all model, we took a locally led approach. We worked within existing systems, engaging a wide range of stakeholders – financial service providers, fintechs, government actors, women’s business associations, chambers of commerce, and support organizations – to co-design financial products and services that reflected the lived realities of women entrepreneurs.
This investment in ecosystem-building paid off:
- 51% of entrepreneurs accessed formal loans for the first time
- $154.9 million in loan capital was unlocked
- 13,000 micro and small enterprises (MSEs) participated in intensive training programs
- 92% applied what they learned
- 86% improved their financial management
- 89% reported increased confidence
- 81% of entrepreneurs reported increased sales
We saw early traction in co-creating loan products that were not only accessible to women but truly designed around their needs – considering their business cycles, collateral constraints, confidence gaps, and digital behaviors. Ignite proved that markets could shift – when local actors are empowered, when products are women-centered, and when partnerships are strong.
Building on Ignite’s momentum, in 2023, we launched Strive Women in partnership with the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth to take this work to the next level. Strive Women deepened and scaled the ecosystem approach, helping financial institutions build internal capacity, embed women-centered design, and shift policies and practices that had historically excluded women from full economic participation. We continued to work hand-in-hand with local actors – because lasting change must be rooted in local ownership, local context, and local leadership.
The result of this multi-year investment in listening, partnering, and adapting? With a Mastercard Impact Fund grant of $7.5 million to date, administered by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, our partnership has unlocked more than $200 million in loan capital for entrepreneurs, multiplying our efforts and impact.
And this story is about more than money. We’re not just unlocking capital. We’re working with local partners to dismantle the barriers women face in building meaningful businesses: the lack of time, limited access to skills and digital tools, constrained mobility, and exclusion from market networks. We are helping to build the MSE ecosystem women need to thrive. That’s not just impact; it’s proof that donor funding, when deployed strategically, can unlock market transformation.
It’s about shifting from short-term projects to long-term systems change. It’s about meeting markets where they are and co-creating solutions that reflect how women want to be served. And it’s about trusting local actors to lead the way.
This is what it looks like to make donor money work for markets – and to make markets work for women.