The EDISON Alliance is the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) global initiative focused on improving digital inclusion and supporting underserved communities worldwide. A substantial number of partners have made commitments to improve digital inclusion across health, finance, education, and career development. These partners are committed to work towards improving digital inclusion and supporting underserved communities worldwide.
Pakistan’s Virtual Remittance Gateway (VRG) is one of the newest EDISON Alliance partners which uses the USSD technology by introducing World Bank’s financial inclusion initiative focusing also on women’s financial inclusion, the Asaan Mobile Account (AMA) Scheme, regulated by both State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) (financial institutions) and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) (telcom companies). Impacting 7.3 million lives in Pakistan in just 14 months, 41% of accounts have been opened by women in contrast to 18% of normal Bank Accounts. VRG is committed to improving the lives of 30 million people in Pakistan by 2025. Providing digital financial services focusing on mobile wallets and low-cost e-payments using USSD technology, VRG’s aim is to provide affordable and accessible solutions to underserved communities in Pakistan with digital banking services, micro-credit, and micro-insurance available to the population unbanked 80% of the in Pakistan. In its Edison Alliance Newsletter of September 15, 2023 the exciting news was relayed regarding in partnership with VRG, it showcased its initiative in a social media collaboration, the video garnered a remarkable 795,000 views across all World Economic Forum social platforms.
An EDISON Alliance Executive Network Meeting was held on September 20th, 2023 attended by all members, from Pakistan Mr. Ikram Sehgal, Co-Chairman? and Mr. Zarrar Sehgal, Chairman Pathfinder Group attended. The progress in advancing the members’ digital inclusion commitment and initiatives was lauded as several more impactful partnerships had taken place due to the members’ active engagement in striving to bridge the digital divide.
Members were urged to further intensify their efforts to advance the Edison Alliance’s digital inclusion objectives and to help them out a significant number of avenues/initiatives in various sectors worldwide were suggested to help members enhance their possible engagement with Edison Alliance and further scale their impact.
