Designing Digital Payments for Mexican Women Entrepreneurs

In 2019, Women’s World Banking set out on a two-year journey to understand why MSMEs have not shown widespread digital finance adoption in Mexico. The researchers started by hypothesizing that poor supply, low demand and an inadequate ecosystem are driving this low take-up. Inquiry began by looking at the big picture - Mexico’s financial inclusion landscape and regulatory environment - and then moved on to deep qualitative research with Mexican women entrepreneurs to better understand their pain points and the financial ecosystem in which they operate.

This report first shares an overview of Mexico’s financial inclusion landscape, then it assesses the needs of women entrepreneurs by understanding their barriers and motivations in relation to digital payment adoption, and, lastly, it envisions the digital payments of the future. It concludes with recommendations for government and financial services providers to support the development of a mobile-based payments ecosystem specific to low-income women entrepreneurs in Mexico, to reduce barriers and increase access.