During the U.S.-Africa Business Forum, Mastercard and the African Development Bank Group announced the "Mobilizing Access to the Digital Economy (MADE) Alliance: Africa" to extend digital access to 100 million people and businesses across Africa in the next decade.

Initially, the Alliance will focus on agriculture and women's support, starting with a pilot program for three million farmers in Kenya, Tanzania, and Nigeria. This program will work with local banks to provide digital identities and access to quality seeds and inputs. Future expansion will include Uganda, Ethiopia, Ghana, and other African nations.

The African Development Bank Group will invest$300 million in digital infrastructure, and Mastercard plans to register 15 million users on its Community Pass platform, launched in 2020, to connect underserved communities to essential services. The Alliance includes partners like Equity Bank, Microsoft, Heifer International, Unconnected.org, and Syngenta Foundation. It supports the US Digital Transformation with Africa Initiative (DTA), the African Union's Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa (DTS), and other related business objectives.

Additional efforts include a memorandum with the U.S. Department of Commerce to advance digital access in Africa, the EdTech Africa partnership to promote educational exchanges and technology innovation, and a Mastercard Community Pass collaboration to support smallholder farmers with digital marketplaces and clean energy tools.

Why does it matter?

A report by Telecom Advisory Services, sponsored by SBA Communications, identifies data affordability, limited rural usage, and low digital literacy as key factors in Africa's persistent digital divide. The continent struggles to secure capital for industrial and technological advancement. UN data shows that foreign direct investment in Africa fell from$45 billion in 2022 to$80 billion in 2021, representing only 3.5% of global investment, despite Africa making up 18% of the global population.