Expo 2020’s global innovation and partnership programme has announced an additional support to innovators from around the world facing financial hardship as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Expo Live has set aside US$1 million in an Emergency Relief Fund from its global innovation and impact grant programme to support innovators who are facing immediate financial hardship because of the ongoing pandemic, WAM reported.
Grantees that have received ERF assistance include InvestEd, a Filipino fintech start-up that provides loans and financial training to low-income students, allowing them to complete their college education. Nearly half of InvestEd’s student borrowers are now unemployed due to COVID-19 and the organisation has increased coaching services to help them find other job opportunities. Thanks to the additional Expo Live emergency funds, the team has created new financial products that will enable the students to continue their education remotely.
ERF recipients also include UAE-based NOW Money, the first fintech in the Gulf region to rely on mobile banking technology to provide accounts, financial inclusion and a range of low-cost remittance options to low-income, migrant workers, and Attollo SE, a Canada-based edtech enterprise that develops talking stickers designed to provide early literacy learning for children.
Attollo helped increase health and safety awareness about the coronavirus, producing recordings in multiple languages and disseminating them through a phone app and the talking stickers technology.
Acting in solidarity with communities around the world, the ERF supports a wider commitment by Expo 2020 and the UAE to advance humanitarian goals and build a brighter future for all. Since the start of the pandemic, the UAE’s active role in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic has included more than 1,200 tonnes of aid sent to 107 countries, reaching more than 1.2 million healthcare workers.
Expo Live has awarded emergency grant funding between US$50,000-100,000 to 15 Global Innovators from 13 countries. The awards were made following a comprehensive evaluation process, including assessment of strategy, the use of current funds and support to local communities.
Expo 2020, which will continue for six months from October 1, 2021, will highlight and promote initiatives such as Expo Live, to shape a better world.
