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How Fintech Changes Social Impact: Insights from Cannes Lions 2024



From managing money, fintech has evolved into being a powerful means of social change in today's fast-paced digital world. Three campaigns provided a groundbreaking experience during the Cannes Lions 2024 Awards in showing how financial technology has more extensive uses than product selling. It can tackle some of the most pressing social issues in the world. Mission: Promoting gender equality in leadership, promoting the collaboration between warring nations, and giving the unbanked access to financial services. These are the kind of missions these campaigns set for a new benchmark about how fintech can be a force for good.


1. Pink Chip: Empowering Women in Leadership



Statistics reveal that companies with women in the command structure perform better than their peers, whereas only 6 percent CEOs worldwide are women. It is for this purpose that AKQA, DEGIRO, and UN Women NL have undertaken an innovative venture: Pink Chip. Pink Chip empowers a unique, data-driven investment vehicle by establishing a financial index based on the performance of women-led companies.


The results? In two weeks, the campaign attracted over 14,500 new investors and took the prices of Pink Chip companies 6.7% higher, peaking at 9.48%. Such a victory proves that investing in women is profitable but, above all, casts a serious challenge to the largely outdated narrative accusing female leadership of being a financial risk.


Takeaway: Pink Chip is not just an investment vehicle; it is a force to be reckoned with-it provokes and advocates for gender equality in the top echelons of leadership while giving quantifiable financial returns.


2. Mastercard's "Room for Everyone": Rebuilding Economies with Data

Mastercard's "Room for Everyone" campaign exemplified how fintech can facilitate interactions between the different communities of Polish and Ukrainian entrepreneurs. Just as the situation with refugees reached a critical point, Mastercard joined forces with McCann Poland to create an online platform where entrepreneurial business networking could be done based on accessible locations where businesses could complement each other.


Through the use of data-driven insights to seek out mutually beneficial opportunities, this campaign helped support businesses and ease social tensions between the two nations.


Key take away: This initiative is an example of how fintech can be part of the solution for difficult social problems by using data to create collaboration and inclusive economies.


3. WeCapital's "E-commerce of Trust": Empowering the Unbanked in Mexico



In a country where more than 49 million people cannot make ends meet, financial exclusion is considered to be an important issue. There is WeCapital's "E-commerce of Trust," the fintech solution which, in a much higher scale than traditional neighborhood-store-based credit systems, allows for low-income Mexicans buying things of first necessity on credit and even more: avoiding using bank cards, guarantors, and being compelled to provide collateral.


Now, with more than 9,500 families and no less than 77,600 essential items delivered, WeCapital can illustrate how trust-based models can scale to finance. Essentially, it has contributed to the medium- and long-term objectives of increasing long-term financial inclusion by bringing in people who have been left behind by mainstream financial systems.


Conclusion: WeCapital is thus a game-changer in financial inclusion because it provides a solution that is both scalable and sustainable toward the unbanked population.


The Bigger Picture: Fintech as a Catalyst for Social Good

The Cannes Lions 2024 Awards clearly demonstrated that fintech is no longer a long way back in its traditional role. The campaigns here show how financial technology may address gender inequality, foster international collaboration, and drive inclusion for the underserved.


Companies, through the social impact approach in the heart of these strategies, have positively been creating financial returns while building a long-term impact upon the world. It is what these campaigns have recently proven: the future of fintech lies in its success in combining financial success with social responsibility.


Conclusion:

Fintech is no longer about numbers, it is a matter of people. And when fintech addresses societal issues straight in the face, it can become a real catalyst for change. As shown by these prize-winning campaigns, the future of finance is about creating trust, fostering collaboration, and empowering communities.

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