In order to grow, small businesses need to keep an edge and remain educated on constantly changing technology. To facilitate this conversation, MasterCard is hosting a Twitter chat that will explore how small businesses can stay smart. Tune in on Thursday, June 20 at noon ET to join via #SBizChat.

We want to hear from you, take our poll below and let us know your biggest small business pain point.

  Want to see more Morning Brews?  Checkout the playlist!

The power and growth of e-learning cannot be underestimated. In the U.S. alone, distance learning is a growing trend with over 6 million students enrolled in online education, almost a third of total higher education enrolments in the U.S. And with the rising cost of tuition fees and everyday living expenses, aspiring to a higher education is increasingly becoming an elite privilege.

The International Student Identity Card (ISIC) Association aims to support the access to education for all who desire it. It is why in 2011 we established the annual ISIC Award, to recognize organizations that seek to break down barriers to education and increase access to education. Since the Award was created, together with MasterCard Worldwide we have been able to provide the winning organization with a €20,000 (US$26,500) contribution to support initiatives enabling access to higher education around the world.

This year we are proud to announce that the University of the People (UoPeople) is the 2013 ISIC Award winner. Complimentary to our mission to support intercultural understanding, UoPeople’s approach to learning allows students from 136 countries to take part in peer-to-peer online learning – sharing not only resources but exchanging ideas and unique perspectives in an encouraging learning environment.

University of the People (UoPeople) is the world’s first non-profit, degree-granting, tuition-free online university embracing technology to bring undergraduate degree programs to qualified high school graduates around the world who would otherwise be restricted in their ability to access quality higher education.

UoPeople is changing the very nature of higher education and harnessing technology to open the doors to learning and, in turn, advancing financial inclusion of many underserved youth of the world.

We think there is no better way to learn – what do you think?

Just look at how significant small businesses are for our economy. Today, they account for 99.7 percent of all firms in the U.S. They are not only a driving force for innovation, but also create almost two thirds of all new jobs.

However, too many small businesses close for lack of funding or the right business tools to help make their business succeed.  Other businesses are struggling with changing consumer habits and the impact of new technologies.

For me, the greatest impetus to supporting these firms is that small businesses don’t think of themselves as small – just as not having finished growing yet.  In fact, solutions and tools that are based on electronic payments can help facilitate that growth, from offering easy savings to providing instant access to benchmark analytics. Owners can empower their employees with business cards for company purchases or travel, extending the trust with secure cards that have controls and alerts built into them.  Moreover, the emergence of mobile POS-devices such as Square and iZettle has made it much easier for small businesses to accept payments – increasing their revenues and saving time and hassle.

The most important thing electronic payments can do for a small business, especially when combined with online banking and other tools, is enabling better cash flow management, essentially freeing the owner to concentrate on the most critical issue: acquiring new customers and retaining existing ones.

This is why we support small businesses everywhere, every day of the year, in every way we can.

How can small businesses stay ahead and keep their edge? Join me @MasterCardNews together with @TheRetailDoctor and @YFSEricaNicole for a #SBizChat this Thursday from 12 to 1 pm ET.

When the owner of Pippa’s Real Tea, in Port Townsend, WA, couldn’t secure bank financing to open her tea shop, she almost gave up.

This is not an uncommon tale for many first-time entrepreneurs who, for any number of reasons, are unable to access traditional financing from their local bank. Fortunately for Pippa she heard about Craft3, a Create Jobs for USA Awardee. A loan from Craft3 enabled her to open the store, creating 14 jobs for her community.

When people on the path to realizing the American dream have access to capital, they can be entrepreneurs, open businesses, create jobs, and transform lives. But many individuals and communities—often in low-income areas—lack access to capital, even when their business ideas are good.

Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) fill this gap.  They bring affordable products and services to communities and individuals, like Pippa, who have been left out of the financial mainstream. The benefits: sound financial returns and real change.

Create Jobs for USA has leveraged the power of these community lenders to help solve our nation’s jobs crisis. Started by Starbucks and Opportunity Finance Network, and later joined by partners, including MasterCard, Create Jobs for USA enables leading companies and individual citizens to create jobs by supporting CDFIs. Through individual and corporate donations, Create Jobs for USA has raised more than $15 million. CDFIs have leveraged this into $105 million in financing for community businesses, which created or retained 5,000 U.S. jobs.

MasterCard helps people like Pippa overcome financial barriers. Its generous support of Create Jobs for USA underscores the company’s commitment to offering basic financial tools and services in underbanked or unbanked communities and helping small businesses and entrepreneurs succeed. By investing in Create Jobs for USA, MasterCard celebrates innovative solutions for pressing economic problems and encourages visionary approaches to making the American dream accessible for all.

After all, it takes money to make money.

Today, new details to report. A second suspect is on the run, described only as the fastest 45 year old on the planet.

Share this WANTED poster on Twitter to help uncover the mystery using #CashRegisterRIP.

Stay close to @MasterCardNews for the latest on this developing story.

MasterCard Wanted Poster

The basic idea is that as everyone’s incomes rise, those at the bottom 40% of the pyramid are going to need guidance on how to use savings and debit accounts; how to invest for the future.  They’ll need access to financial services for the first time in their lives.  And this is where public and private partnerships can make a big impact .  We’ve already seen this start to happen, with our work on the continent of Africa as well as the World Food Program.

In this edition of Morning Brew, see highlights of the webcast and hear about the Center for Financial Services Innovations forum in Miami that we were a part of.  A rising tide lifts all boats, and we want to leverage our technology to empower more people to take control of their finances.

To catch up on all the latest Morning Brews, check out our playlist.

We’ve covered financial inclusion many times on the Morning Brew, and I’m looking forward to hosting our first live global webcast  from MasterCard’s Conversation Suite on this topic with The Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion, next week.  We’ll be discussing how rising incomes at the base of the pyramid affect financial inclusion.

What do you think?  Can payment technology help expand financial inclusion and eradicate poverty?  Leave me a comment below or Tweet me @MasterCardNic.  And don’t forget to join the conversation on June 11 – we’ll be monitoring Twitter for #FinancialInclusion during the webcast.