Originally published on Medium by Mastercard Strive
By Subhashini (Shuba) Chandran, senior vice president, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, and Leena Datwani, senior advisor, She Leads Bharat:Udyam
She Leads Bharat: Udyam (SLB:U), a Mastercard Strive initiative implemented by Frontier Markets in collaboration with Airtel Payments Bank, aims to diversify and elevate the incomes of rural women-owned micro and small enterprises (MSEs) through a technology platform. Between August 2023 and February 2025, the initiative successfully onboarded 15,000 women MSEs onto the Meri Saheli app through which they earn commissions for products and services sold. Ten thousand have also been onboarded as women banking correspondents (BCs) on Airtel Payments Bank’s Mitra app through which they earn commissions for banking transactions conducted for customers at the last mile.
SLB:U sits at the intersection of helping rural women entrepreneurs find stable and diversified income sources while also addressing the significant opportunity for scalable last mile delivery. It strengthens last mile distribution while improving economic mobility for women. Early evidence suggests that user-centric technology coupled with comprehensive training programs and sustained support, diversified products and services, and community networks can enable income elevation and resilience while serving rural communities in a replicable and scalable manner.
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