The year in photos

In Washington, D.C., CEOs and faith-based changemakers, university presidents and United Nations officials, development bank leaders, data scientists and cinema darlings all  shared the stage at Mastercard’s annual Global Inclusive Growth Summit on April 22, tackling issues such as the responsible use of AI, the intersection of climate change and financial inclusion, and the empowerment of women entrepreneurs. Among them, in photo above, actor and gender equality activist Rosario Dawson, left, Fatoumata Bâ, center, the founder of Janngo Capital, and philanthropist Melinda French Gates, right. “If we capitalize women and if we open up their entrepreneurial nature and their possibility, we’re going to have an amazing compounding affect around the world," Gates said. Watch videos from the summit here. 

The work of the Priceless Planet Coalition, which aims to restore 100 million trees globally, advanced this year, with three new sites and expanded work in six others, including Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Maria mountains, in photo above, where the Indigenous Arhuaco people are restoring their sacred lands with support from the coalition and the Colombia Ministry of the Environment. New sites include the High Andes, Eastern Himalayas and Thailand’s Kaeng Krachan National Park, all chosen because of their ability to maximize benefits on climate, communities and biodiversity. Read more about Mastercard's sustainability efforts here. 

Team spirit extended outside the office, with Mastercard runners celebrating their third-place win at the Singapore Bloomberg Square Mile Relay in October, photo above, the Mastercard Waterloo field hockey team competing in Belgium's Hockey Corporate Tournament, and the Mastercard London football team scoring second place at the International Federation of Corporate Football's World Cup in Greece.  "The team covers a wide range of job functions, from videography to data science to software engineering," said Baron Gracias, the London football team captain and data scientist. "Together we represent the very best of Mastercard’s team culture. We all helped each other achieve more, and we all gave each other the strength to go further than we ever could alone."

Mastercard showcased its innovation around the world in 2024, including the Singapore Fintech Festival in November, where thousands flowed through the “Sphere of Commerce,” made of 3,000 LED panels, where they experienced firsthand how tech is propelling commerce into a new era. Building on earlier announcements that Mastercard would phase out manual entry of card numbers for e-commerce in Europe by 2030 and launch its Payment Passkey Service in India, Mastercard executives outlined how it would bring one-click checkout to the rest of the world through a combination of tokenization, biometric-powered payment passkeys and Click to Pay. This will eliminate the need for static or one-time passwords and boost fraud protection, leading the way to a global economy that empowers everyone. Read more about one-click checkout here and here. 

Start Path, Mastercard’s startup engagement program, celebrated its 10th anniversary by ringing the bell at the New York Stock Exchange on November 13. The program has supported more than 400 companies from more that 50 countries that have collectively raised north of $25 billion in post-program capital. That day also marked the company’s annual Investment Community Meeting, during which Mastercard leadership shared its strategy and successes with investors and analysts, including expanding acceptance to 150 million locations globally, fortifying cybersecurity and other services, and growing commercial payments. Listen to a podcast with Start Path lead Sabrina Tharani Libby and and two fintech founders here. 

And they’re off! Mastercard and McLaren Racing kicked off its partnership at the Las Vegas Grand Prix in November, debuting its new livery with iconic red and yellow Mastercard circles on the cars driven by Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Formula 1 is one of the world’s fastest-growing passions, with one in three fans starting to follow the sport within the last past four years. The partnership with McLaren Racing was a natural for Mastercard, whose Priceless platform connects people to their passions, according to Mastercard's Raja Rajamannar, chief marketing and communications officer: “The innovation of this sport is awe-inspiring, and we want as many people as possible to be able to experience it — whether as a fan, as a driver or in other critical roles." Read more here.