AIFC’s Fintech Hub together with Visa, the world leader in digital payments and innovative payment solutions, held a panel session on "Support for small and medium enterprises - in the focus of development of Central Asia" within the framework of the "Astana Finance Days 2021" international conference.
Participants of the panel session discussed the state and prospects of SMEs in the region, the issues of digitalization, the development of e-commerce, new financial products and services for entrepreneurs.
The COVID-19 pandemic gave a strong influence to the digitalization of SMBs, which stimulated primarily the development of contactless payments, e-commerce, P2P transfers and digital issuance. As a result, SMEs have made and continue to make significant changes from expanding their e-commerce presence to accepting new forms of contactless payments: 82% of SMEs have changed the way they run business through digital transformation, such as selling and promoting goods and services online and accepting contactless payments.
New technologies are actively being introduced for SMEs, in particular, Kazakhstan has become a global leader in the deployment of the Visa Tap to Phone technology, which turns a smartphone into a payment terminal.
Digitalization of SMEs is especially important now, as it allows to quickly transform business from offline to online. The example, which was actively discussed by the participants of the session, was the project on digitalization of Dordoi market in Kyrgyzstan, which is implemented by New Market Technologies with the support of Visa. During the discussion representatives of Dordoi association and New Market Technologies noted that the launched platform is actually the core of an entire ecosystem of services and already offers entrepreneurs various digital solutions, access to financial services, remote services and cashless payments.
According to the research of micro, small and medium-sized business in Kazakhstan, commissioned by Visa company, entrepreneurs in Kazakhstan are already quite actively using digital opportunities for business, in particular, 63% have a website or an account in social media/promote services and products online, 42% have both online and offline sales points, and 18% sell products only online.
Special attention was paid to the discussion of the current situation, challenges and prospects of women entrepreneurship in Kazakhstan and Central Asia, as well as business support programs
"The past year was a year of socio-economic upheavals that affected many areas. In the face of uncertainty our goal was to maintain the balance of the payment ecosystem by enabling smooth, secure and reliable payments for all its participants, to help businesses adapt to the COVID-19 and post-COVID reality and facilitate their further recovery and digital transformation. Not only we continued to implement payment innovations such as Pays solutions powered by Visa Token Service to drive mobile payments, Visa Tap to Phone to expand contactless card acceptance network, launched a number of solutions in partnership with fintech players, but also focused our efforts on initiatives aimed to help micro, small and medium-sized businesses through #WhereYouShopMatters and She's Next. Empowered by Visa platforms," said Cristina Doros, Vice-president, Country Manager for Central Asia and Azerbaijan, Visa.
"AIFC is a financial hub for all the countries of Central Asia, the Caucasus and the Eurasian Economic Union, and given the high potential of the region, Astana Finance Days has become a platform for dialogue and experience exchange for different countries. We have many common goals with Visa in the market - to support and develop innovations, promote financial and other technologies, entrepreneurship and e-commerce, thus accelerating innovative development of Kazakhstan and the region. We are always happy to see Visa - our strategic partner - on the platform of Astana Finance Days and to implement major national and international projects with it," noted Kairat Kaliyev, Deputy Chairman of the AIFC Management Board.
About Visa
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is the world’s leader in digital payments. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, reliable and secure payment network - enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. Our advanced global processing network, VisaNet, provides secure and reliable payments around the world, and is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second. The company’s relentless focus on innovation is a catalyst for the rapid growth of digital commerce on any device for everyone, everywhere. As the world moves from analog to digital, Visa is applying our brand, products, people, network and scale to reshape the future of commerce. For more information, visit About Visa, visa.com/blog and @VisaNews, usa.visa.com/about-visa www.facebook.com/VisaKazakhstan, www.visa.com.kz
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