Second Global Inclusive Growth Summit Launches New Programs to Fight Increasing Inequality

Top business, government and civil society leaders gathered October 14, 2021 for the second Global Inclusive Growth Summit, co-hosted by the Aspen Institute and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. Key participants at the “Rebuilding for All” summit will announce commitments of more than $54 million across 10 new programs that will take action to help build inclusive and sustainable economies in communities around the world.

These new commitments include efforts to support housing stability and build financial infrastructure in marginalized communities; investing in companies that support the resiliency of unsecured workers in India; and working to reduce bias in the data and algorithms that financial services institutions use in the U.S. Select summit participants have been supported in the development of their programs through a partnership with the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), an initiative of the Clinton Foundation.

The COVID-19 pandemic has both accelerated the shift to a digital economy, and exacerbated inequality around the world. Here in the United States, the pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on Black, Latino, and Native American communities – with wide disparities on both the health and financial effects of the pandemic. It is critical that public, private and civic sector leaders work together to address these longstanding disparities and advance solutions to help create a more inclusive economic recovery.   

Today’s sessions covered three thematic areas: People, Planet & Prosperity: Creating Growth that Sustains; The Global Agenda for Financial Security; and TechTonic Shifts: Putting Technology to Work for the Common Good. Global leaders shared their perspectives on “rebuilding for all”, as well as the risk of not acting:

Vice President Kamala Harris, transcript remarks

“When we harness our collective innovation and determination, we maximize our impact. Take the business community, for instance. There are employers across our nation that are leading the way on gender equality. They are committed to pay transparency, intentional in hiring and promoting, thoughtful in ensuring, flexibility and predictability. 

And studies have shown that they are seeing higher equity returns, increased profit margins, and greater productivity. So, here is my ongoing challenge to business leaders, foundation leaders, and nonprofit leaders across our country: Think about what more you can do to remove barriers to opportunity within your own businesses and organizations. To make those businesses and organizations as inclusive as they are strong. And then, please do it. Because we need your help to build an economy that works for women and for all. In this moment of transformation, I believe that change is possible if we make it together. So, let's get to work.”

Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States; Founder and Board Chair, Clinton Foundation

“As the COVID-19 pandemic has painfully reminded us, far too many people have been left out and left behind for far too long. We have both a rare opportunity and a moral imperative to bring people together from across sectors and around the world, to build economies that give every person the chance to succeed. The investments being announced today will support both the immediate needs of the workforce and set up our economies for long-term inclusive growth and prosperity.”

Raphael Bostic, President & CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

“I think it's really important that everyone understand that systemic racism and indeed any structure or institution that restricts opportunity based on a person's skin color or their family connections or any of those sorts of things is an economic issue because it constrains the access to opportunity and it really limits the ability of people and communities of achieving their full potential. And if they don't achieve their full potential, we all lose because we have smaller economies than we should, and we have less resilient economies than we should. At the Atlanta Fed, we are committed to ensuring the economy works for everyone and to creating a foundation upon which all individuals, communities and businesses can thrive.”

10 partners launch 10 new programs with a singular focus: impact  

Programs focused on driving financial inclusion for individuals:

• Mobility Capital Finance, Mastercard, and the City of Birmingham will jointly develop, launch, and manage Birmingham’s financial services infrastructure program to help 50,000 underbanked and unbanked residents in marginalized communities.
• JPMorgan Chase will commit $8.4 million to improve household stability as part of the firm’s $400 million five-year commitment to close the housing affordability gap for Black, Hispanic and Latino households. These commitments and policy solutions are part of the firm’s $30 billion commitment to advance racial equity and help drive an inclusive economic recovery.
• Prudential is building on the impact of its decade-long partnership with the Aspen Institute with a pledge of $11 million over five years to together establish “Equity Re-imagined” to improve job quality, empower people to build financial security, and amplify wealth creation opportunities for historically underserved communities.
   

Solutions to help small businesses scale:

• STRIVE COMMUNITY will launch a $1 million Innovation Fund to build, test, or enhance solutions that support small business growth.
• GRAB, Southeast Asia’s leading super-app, announced a regional partnership with Mastercard’s Center for Inclusive Growth, to provide millions of informal workers and small businesses on the Grab platform access to digital upskilling opportunities to create more pathways and income opportunities for them.
   

Initiatives to better equip the workforce of tomorrow:

• Mastercard and Microsoft will link workers to training providers and employers; unlocking access to capital for small businesses; reducing bias in the financial services industry by identifying and mitigating bias in data and algorithms used by financial services providers.
• AARP, in partnership with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the World Economic Forum, will identify and share multigenerational, inclusive workforce practices among international member companies to enable expansion of those practices in diverse industries.
• Acumen, with initial support of the Target Foundation, will develop an accelerator for a cohort of early-stage companies focused on promoting green jobs and circular models that aim to drive sustainable and equitable economic growth in India and provide seed capital to select early-stage companies on their path to scale.
   

Bolstering access to capital:

• Beyond The Billion will secure pledges from venture funds and limited partner investors as part of their goal to unlock $10 billion in venture capital to be invested in a diverse group of women founders.
   

In addition, Senator Chris Coons called for the creation of a new Presidential Financial Inclusion Commission at the Department of the Treasury tasked with creating a national, interagency financial inclusion strategy. The Commission would build on the Biden Administration’s work to create a more equitable economy. In addition to working across federal agencies, the Commission will bring in a diverse set of leaders with relevant experience in the nonprofit and private sectors to produce a federal strategy for improving the financial well-being of American households.

And finally, CARE and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth announced progress on a commitment made at the 2019 Global Inclusive Growth Summit. In 2019, a new partnership was announced that included a $5.26 million grant to support 3.9 million small businesses in Pakistan, Peru and Vietnam, where large segments of unserved small businesses are ready for investment.

Today, CARE USA will announce that the program has so far reached over 1 million entrepreneurs and their communities across the three countries.

“As the global economy begins to recover, the necessity of creating inclusive and sustainable growth has never been greater,” said Mike Froman, vice chairman of Mastercard. “Today’s Global Inclusive Growth Summit shines a spotlight on the kind of partnerships, digital technology and bold commitments that are needed to substantively move the needle towards a more equitable society.  In order to tackle the scale of global challenges we face, we cannot go it alone. We will need partners across public, private and civic sectors to come together, expand pathways to the middle class and help people and small businesses thrive and grow.”

“When we launched the Global Inclusive Growth Partnership in 2019, economic inequity was already an immediate challenge. Few could have predicted just how fundamental the work of inclusive growth would become, however, over the past 18 months. As the global economy recovers from a devastating pandemic, we must act with renewed urgency to build a more equitable society,” said Dan Porterfield, President and CEO of the Aspen Institute. “The commitments announced at the summit today, within this framework, have the potential to transform the lives of people, families, and communities around the world. Each sector—including business, governments, and nonprofits—has an opportunity and a responsibility to put these solutions into practice.”

Quotes from Global Inclusive Growth Summit Commitment Partners

"As people live, learn, and earn longer, AARP is committed to working with businesses to help them reap the benefits of a multigenerational workforce where people can continue to work for as long as they need or want to," said AARP CEO Jo Ann Jenkins. “Research shows that age-diverse workforces have a positive effect on employee engagement, productivity and the bottom line. It is heartening to see that business leaders around the world recognize this value, even as we’ve been concerned the pandemic could fuel ageism.”

“The effects of the climate crisis – resource depletion, urbanization, and pollution – are exacerbating problems for the informal, migrant workforce in India. We know there are social entrepreneurs building companies that can address the needs of India’s informal workforce and mitigate the irrevocable impacts of climate change. In the spirit of collaboration and putting people and the planet first, we hope to leverage our collective resources through this program and create greener and more equitable growth in India in partnership with others who share these goals,” shares Yasmina Zaidman, Chief Partnerships Officer at Acumen.

"Investing in women is just good business. We've learned from our journey that to truly fuel women-led innovation, we need to address the entire supply chain of capital, and this is why we're excited to work with limited partner investors - from some of the largest pensions, endowments, foundations to families to diversify and advance the global venture ecosystem," Shelly Porges and Sarah Chen, Co-Founders, Beyond The Billion.

“Access to safe, affordable housing is key to building wealth but out of reach for far too many families,” said Heather Higginbottom, President, JPMorgan Chase PolicyCenter and Co-Head of Global Philanthropy. “Today’s announcement will help promote immediate housing stability for underserved households and is one step toward our goal of addressing barriers to affordable housing and homeownership, especially for Black, Latino and Hispanic families.”

“MoCaFi is committed to the movement for economic justice. We are proud to partner with companies and organizations that assist us in creating sustainable financial pathways for marginalized communities, and our program in Birmingham matches our initiatives with the visionary leadership of Mayor Woodfin. This program will serve as a model for the country and how technology can bring productive financial solutions to the most vulnerable residents and neighborhoods. MoCaFi is honored that the Clinton Global Initiative and the Aspen Institute have recognized this collaboration and our dedication to providing economic mobility to all Americans,” said Wole Coaxum, Founder and CEO, MoCaFi “Mobility Capital Finance, Inc.”

“Prudential is committed to closing the financial divide as an urgent moral and business imperative,” said Lata Reddy, senior vice president of Inclusive Solutions at Prudential Financial and chair of The Prudential Foundation.  “For the past 11 years, the Aspen Institute has been a key partner to us in driving innovation, narrative change, and policies that bring financial stability to historically underserved communities.  Through Equity Re-imagined, our new $11 million partnership with Aspen, together we will reimagine the future of work, wealth and capitalism.”

Launched in October 2019 with an inaugural summit, the Global Inclusive Growth Partnership (GIGP) combines the expertise and networks of both the Aspen Institute and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth to address systemic issues across a range of topics including financial security, the future of workers and portable benefits, growing micro and small businesses, and commercially sustainable social impact.

CGI provided assistance to select summit participants in developing the programs announced today. Over the years, CGI and its successors have brought together leaders from across sectors to improve the lives of more than 430 million people in 180 countries worldwide.

Replays of the summit can be viewed at www.globalinclusivegrowthsummit.com beginning Friday, Oct. 15th.

Check out more content from The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth