Tag Archives: MasterCard

SAUDIA has partnered with Mastercard to empower women entrepreneurs in the kingdom with Saudi Arabia’s first tech-inclusion and female-focused accelerator. Together, they will host three workshops in Jeddah, Riyadh, and Khobar, offering budding female entrepreneurs, aspiring leaders, and small business owners invaluable learning and networking opportunities. This season, SAUDIA and Mastercard are joining forces with Blossom Accelerator, The podcast adds to the 5,000 hours of content available on SAUDIA’s Beyond inflight entertainment system, offering a high-quality interactive experience with a diverse range of content suitable for various guest preferences and age groups in more than 16 languages. Additionally, a competition will be launched, inviting startups to present their business concepts at priceless.com/hervoiceS3 for a chance to win a one-year mentorship program by Blossom Accelerator. Essam Akhonbay, Vice President of Marketing at SAUDIA, said: “SAUDIA has been a pioneer in supporting women’s professional growth. By including ‘Her Voice’ on our in-flight entertainment system, we continue to champion women’s stories while enhancing our guests’ experience. Our Beyond entertainment system, with its extensive and interactive content, perfectly complements this initiative.” Maria Medvedeva, Country Manager, Saudi Arabia, Mastercard, stated: “Amplifying the incredibly moving stories of Saudi women from all over the Kingdom, Her Voice has serves as the clarion call for the recognition of excellence. With women being at the heart of the Kingdom’s transformation into a global hub of innovation and nerve center of regional entrepreneurship, it is vital that we share their inspiring narratives with the rest of the world. We aim to continue doing exactly that with the third season of the podcast series, working closely with Saudia to action lasting and meaningful change.” True to the spirit of the podcast, …

Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) signed a pioneering Memorandum of Understanding with Mastercard to form a “Digital City Partnership” to further accelerate the emirate’s economic growth in line with the goals of the Dubai Economic Agenda, D33. A global first at a city level, the strategic alliance paves the way for Dubai to harness Mastercard’s multi-rail payments network and data-driven digital commerce technology, which connects over 100 million merchants globally across all sectors and segments to address key priorities of the D33 Agenda. The MoU will lead to the development and implementation of a multi-year Digital Partnership programme in Dubai, focusing on: Enabling growth of trade and exports: The collaboration aims to enable new international trade opportunities for businesses and expand export capabilities, leveraging Mastercard’s expertise in facilitating secure and efficient payment transactions. Developing SMEs and enabling innovation: The partnership will prioritise the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), providing them with digital tools, resources, and mentorship to foster innovation, competitiveness, and sustainability. Attracting and developing talent: Dubai and Mastercard will work together to attract and nurture Emirati and global talents in the digital sector, fostering the development of a skilled workforce equipped with the capabilities necessary to drive the city’s digital economy forward. Accelerating growth across the tourism ecosystem: The Digital City Partnership aims to leverage digital technologies to further enhance Dubai’s tourism industry. Implementing innovative payment solutions and improving visitor experiences will support Dubai’s vision to become a top-three global destination for visitors across leisure, business and specialised services. The visionary commitment of Dubai’s leadership, coupled with the depth and magnitude of this digital partnership, provides a conducive environment to deliver scalable and inclusive use-cases …

Mastercard and Bahrain-based fintech Infinios Financial Services have announced a strategic partnership to advance the digitization of business-to-business travel payments between travel buyers and suppliers through the first Mastercard Wholesale Program launch in region. The collaboration will enhance liquidity for travel suppliers, such as travel agencies, through greater transaction flexibility, transparency, and security. Infinios will deploy the Mastercard Wholesale Program, a virtual card based B2B payment product, to its travel industry customers using its proprietary technologies to help them secure, streamline, and automate B2B travel transactions. The combined solution has been specifically designed for and with the travel industry, addressing the lack of visibility, control, and protection associated with manual payment methods that are still rife across the sector. Andrew Sims, co-founder and CEO of Infinios Financial Services, said: “We are excited to be continuing to develop our relationship with Mastercard in the B2B travel payments space in line with our commitment to support the overall financial ecosystem in the region. The combined strength of Infinios’s comprehensive technology capabilities and the pricing structures available through the Mastercard Wholesale Program will enable us to provide a further boost to the corporate travel industry as it continues to recover from the ill effects of the global pandemic.” Khalid Elgibali, Division President, Middle East and North Africa, Mastercard, said: “As consumers regain the confidence to seek out and book travel experiences, legacy B2B payment processes threaten to hold the industry back. It is now vital that organizations across the sector consider how their payment strategy can secure growth and improve liquidity. Innovation must play its part in ensuring that travel payments are not only simple and convenient but, even more importantly, flexible and …

As recovery of the travel industry picks up steam, payments technology company Mastercard and travel website Musafir have partnered to take travel bookings originating in the Middle East and North Africa, to new heights. The exclusive partnership will digitize end-to-end payment flows and launch new innovative payment products with attractive travel benefits to both consumers and corporates. According to an analysis by the Mastercard Economics Institute, if flight booking trends continue at their current pace, an estimated 115 million more passengers in Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa will fly in 2022 compared to last year. The research reveals that global leisure and business flight bookings have surpassed pre-pandemic levels with an estimated 1.5 billion more passengers predicted to fly in 2022 compared to 2021. “At Mastercard we are committed to contribute to the continued recovery of the travel and tourism sector through insights, data analysis, innovative digital solutions and unique partner collaborations. We are continuously investing to innovate across the travel value chain. We are excited to partner with Musafir to provide digital-first experiences to their consumers,” said Amnah Ajmal, Executive Vice President, Market Development, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, Mastercard. “Our partnership with Mastercard is a testament to our belief that travel is back and our commitment to providing both consumers and corporates with technology-led travel solutions,” said Sachin Gadoya, Co-founder, and CEO of Musafir.com. Musafir.com is the UAE’s first online travel agency and is among the leading corporate travel management companies in the region. Mastercard and Musafir have signed an exclusive partnership to launch innovative payment products and solutions across the MENA region, benefiting both consumers and corporates. These will help digitize end-to-end payment flows, providing …

Travelport and MasterCard have announced a new product to help airlines better understand their end travelers’ spend behavior. The product, Travelport Passenger Insight powered by Mastercard, allows airlines to improve their partnership strategies and create better offers to encourage travel on their respective routes.  Travelport Passenger Insight, the latest innovation from Travelport’s airline Business Intelligence team, analyses how, where, and when travellers spend in key spend categories — such as hotels, car rental, restaurants and retail — while traveling in a particular destination or country. Travelport Passenger Insight uses aggregated transaction data to give airlines up-to-date traveler insights and information. Airlines can choose two levels of travel related spend detail. The result is customized analytics specific to the airline customers’ profile and benchmarked against industry competitors.    This unique analysis of anonymised and aggregated spending data provides airlines with tailored insights into brand preferences and trends that can help attract and keep customers in key routes and markets.