Reports from the Nigerian Communications Commission inform us that Nigeria loses over $500 million a year to cybercrime. In light of this, Mastercard has partnered with NowNow, a Nigerian digital payments startup that helps small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) reduce the risk of cyber attacks. The focus on SMEs is because they generally lack sufficient resources to combat such threats.
According to the World Bank, SMEs represent 90% of businesses worldwide and employ more than 50% of the workforce, thus the sustainability of SMEs is important for economic prosperity.
Recognizing the devastating impact of COVID-19 on SMBs, Mastercard committed $250 million over a 5-year period to help SMBs in addition to launching the Mastercard Trust Center to address their cybersecurity issues.
Executive Vice President, Product Optimization and Customer Development, Cyber & Intelligence at Mastercard says, “As Mastercard brings the next billions into the digital economy, it’s important that business owners feel as safe and secure from cybercrime as possible. Our partnership with NowNow is key to achieving this. Whether large or small, businesses deserve the peace of mind to operate knowing they are being kept safe.”
NowNow is currently available in Angola and Nigeria and offers regular web application penetration testing to ensure applications are not exposed to cyber threats. Apart from Nigeria and Angola, they are expanding into other markets in Equatorial Guinea, Liberia and the UAE, which are part of the Mastercard Start Path Global program designed to help startups in later scale-up. NowNow received operational support, commercial commitment and an opportunity for strategic investment. This partnership will help their customers upgrade their cyber system security and better protect themselves against cybercriminals.
Sahir Berry who is the CEO of NowNow has said, “Like Mastercard, NowNow is committed to driving financial and digital inclusion by building an ecosystem that digitizes payments and creates access to financial services for businesses, governments and customers in rural and urban communities using simplified branchless banking initiatives. We are excited to partner with the Mastercard Trust Center to help our customers improve the security of their cyber ecosystem and better protect themselves against cybercriminals.”
In conclusion, the partnership between Mastercard and NowNow will help address the cybersecurity needs of small and medium-sized businesses, allowing them to feel safer and more secure, allowing them to focus on improving their business and playing their part in contributing to the prosperity of the economy.
Click here to read the original article
