Science & Tech
Silver lining from COVID? Women around the world got access to digital payments
Silver Lining From COVID? Women Around the World Got Access to Digital Payments | GZERO Media
November 13, 2021
There are few silver linings from the pandemic, but for Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman, one of them is "a massive expansion of social payments to women across the world." Women traditionally excluded from such systems in countries like Kenya or Pakistan, he says, finally got online — with immense potential to set up businesses for instance in agriculture. These are the "green shoots that we need to collectively build on" so after COVID we get a "faster, more effective, and more equitable recovery for the entire world."
He spoke during "Measuring what matters: How women are critical to pandemic recovery," a livestream conversation on October 28, 2021, hosted by GZERO Media in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
More For You
Mastercard Economic Institute's Outlook 2026 explores the forces redefining global business. Tariffs, technology, and transformation define an adaptive economy for the year ahead. Expect moderate growth amid easing inflation, evolving fiscal policies, and rapid AI adoption, driving productivity. Digital transformation for SMEs and shifts in trade and consumer behavior will shape strategies worldwide. Stay ahead with insights to help navigate complexity and seize emerging opportunities. Learn more here.
Most Popular
Think you know what's going on around the world? Here's your chance to prove it.
Miami Mayor-elect Eileen Higgins points as she thanks her staff and supporters on the night of the general election, on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025.
Carl Juste/Miami Herald/TNS/ABACAPRESS.COM
A Democrat won Miami’s mayoral race for the first time in nearly 30 years. The Republican defeat will ring some alarms for the party – and their support among Latino voters.
Women work in the plastic container assembly area inside the El Oso shoe polish factory, located in Mexico City, Mexico, in its new facilities, after officers from the Secretariat of Citizen Security and staff from the Benito Juarez mayor's office arbitrarily and violently remove their supplies, raw materials, machinery, and work tools on January 17 of this year following a coordinated operation stemming from a private dispute. On August 27, 2025.
Photo by Gerardo Vieyra/NurPhoto
50: Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum is taking a page out of US President Donald Trump’s book, implementing up to a 50% tariff on more than 1,400 products in a bid to boost domestic production.
© 2025 GZERO Media. All Rights Reserved | A Eurasia Group media company.