Visa has recently announced a commitment to support 10 million small businesses across Asia Pacific, including Viet Nam, in an effort to get local communities back to business in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company has introduced a range of programmes and solutions to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) drive efficiency and sales by accepting and making payments digitally to meet increased demand for cashless payments both online and in-store.

Visa has also formed the Visa Economic Empowerment Institute (VEEI) focused on economic and societal issues, including pandemic challenges that SMEs face and closing racial and gender opportunity gaps.

The 10 million pledge is part of a global programme that will see Visa supporting 50 million small businesses worldwide. According to a report called "Impact of COVID-19 on Small and Medium Businesses" by the SMB Group, small businesses will play a vital role in helping communities recover. They account for more than half of global employment and are among the most affected by the pandemic.

In Viet Nam, to encourage consumers and small merchants to adopt digital payments in an easier and more convenient way, Visa has signed an MoU with NextPay to promote digital payment solutions via the Mobile Point-of-Sale (mPOS) with a goal of expanding to a community of 300,000 merchants by 2023.

Dang Tuyet Dung, Visa country manager for Viet Nam and Laos, said: “At Visa, we are committed to advocating Visa’s global initiative to promote and strengthen the position of small businesses. By supporting local SMEs, which account for 98 per cent of all enterprises in Viet Nam and contribute approximately 40 per cent of GDP, we are proud to be part of the worldwide effort to mitigate the impact of COVID-19, and spur continued economic growth at a time when communities need it most.”

In Asia Pacific, SMEs account for more than 90 per cent of businesses and employ 50 per cent of the workforce.

In addition to the economic impact, COVID-19 is accelerating the use of digital commerce experiences, from people seeking new ways to pay that do not involve touching a terminal to a boom in eCommerce, as stay-home orders result in shopping online instead of in-store.

Reports said in Asia Pacific, 41 per cent of consumers made five or more e-commerce transactions in the past three months. Three quarters of consumers in the region have said they will keep using digital payments instead of going back to cash, even after the global pandemic has subsided. VNS