Billionaire investor George Soros and Mastercard announced a partnership to make the world a better place.
The partnership of two giants, Humanity Ventures, will apply commercial strategies to help forced migrants, refugees and others struggling within their communities worldwide to improve their economic and social status.
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In a joint statement on Thursday, Soros and Mastercard said that despite billions of dollars of humanitarian and development assistance every year, pervasive joblessness, lack of access to healthcare, inadequate education, and financial exclusion, millions of people remain marginalized.
Mastercard delivers innovative payments, data, and identity solutions which empower the undeserved all over the world. These tools improve the lives of refugees and migrants by forging better economic and social ties with local populations.
One such solution is the Mastercard Aid Network, an award winning digital voucher platform designed in partnership with humanitarian organizations.
In September 2016, George Soros pledged to invest up to $500 million for private investments that will meet the challenges posted by the global crisis of forced migration including refugees, and their host communities.
George Soros to invest $500 million in help for refugees through his Open Society Foundations
Humanity Ventures would initially combine solutions designed to expand access to healthcare and education, foster local economic development and entrepreneurship.
With the creation of Humanity Ventures, Soros could invest up to $50 million to scalable and sustainable these solutions. It could even serve as an incubator and accelerator for projects committed to mitigating the migrates life.
The social venture would also act as a new model for how civil society, governments, and the private sector improve quality of life and drive economic growth.
George Soros said: “Humanity Ventures is intended to be profitable so as to stimulate involvement from other business people. We also hope to establish standards of practice to ensure that investments are not exploitative of the vulnerable communities we intend to serve.”
George Soros established his first foundation and philanthropic activity, the Open Society Foundations, in 1979 when his hedge fund had reached about $100 million and his personal wealth had climbed to about $25 million, according to Reuters.
In the 1980s, Georg Soros and his foundations ultimately contributed to the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe.
Ajay Banga, president and CEO of Mastercard said “Over several years, we’ve applied our thinking and technology to help hundreds of millions connect to the formal economy and to help empower safer and more efficient aid distribution. We can have transformational impact by scaling our business-driven organization to leverage innovation, on-the-ground experience and long-term capital investments.”
