About the report
For a woman running a micro or small business (WMSE), going digital is a necessary growth strategy. A mobile wallet lets her conduct and track high volumes of transactions. Social media reaches customers she could never have served from her storefront. Digital access to her bank account provides her a safe place to store her money.
But the same digital activity that drives growth also expands the opportunity for fraud or consumer protection risk. Every new channel is another way for a scam to reach her.
Strive Women, a four-year program led by CARE, is part of Mastercard Strive, a portfolio of philanthropic small business programs supported by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. It focuses on growth-oriented entrepreneurs who have been in business for at least two years and have at least one employee. While there is variation among participants, the typical entrepreneur is a married woman in her late 30s to early 40s with a secondary school education. Her business is most often urban-based, unregistered, and operates in the retail sector.
The findings in this learning brief draw on the Strive Women Midline Survey, conducted by 60 Decibels, which measured how women micro and small enterprise owners across Pakistan, Vietnam, and Peru experience and respond to digital financial risk and fraud.