Pollinate Announces Winners of Small Business Filmmaker Competition in Collaboration with Mastercard Showcasing Small Business Ingenuity Spurred by the COVID-19 Pandemic

London, UK: 1 September 2021 – Pollinate, the global fintech that partners with banks to help business customers succeed and grow, announces the winners of “Ingenious,” an annual filmmaker competition aimed at spotlighting small business ingenuity, in collaboration with Mastercard.

Launched across 31 countries including Australia, Canada, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States, the Ingenious competition celebrates the ingenuity of small business owners around the globe through stories of how they have used technology to reimagine their businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The past 18 months have been especially challenging for small businesses – the waves of COVID disruption, economic slowdown and community crises have disproportionately impacted them. Yet many have responded with great agility, transforming from a local shop to a local delivery service, making masks rather than mugs or producing sanitiser instead of sangria. They’ve connected with the needs of their community in new ways and reimagined what it means to succeed as a small business.

“Our collaboration with Mastercard has created a powerful alliance that is committed to empowering every small business, and we’re excited to shine a spotlight on some of the amazing ways small businesses have been using technology to drive their venture forward during the COVID-19 pandemic,” says Alastair Lukies CBE, CEO and Founder, Pollinate.

“The Ingenious competition spotlights small business heroes who take on the unexpected and thrive, seeing opportunity in every day to reimagine, refresh and reinvent,” says Andrea Gilman, Global SME Segment Lead, Mastercard. “We’re inspired by the international filmmakers and small businesses who found the silver linings and are charging ahead with digital-first solutions and optimism about the future of their business and the broader economy.”

Filmmakers had the chance to win one of six global prizes for the best films, ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 USD.

The competition also had winners across four themes of Get Paid, Get Capital, Get Digital and Loyal to Local. Winning filmmakers will receive $3,000.

Loyal to Local: Isaac O’Farrell and UFLORA PLANT HOUSE, a floral retailer in the United States specialising in house plants and botanical home décor. During the pandemic the business used social media to drive online interest in their products and offer home delivery. It also created the “living room market” a physical space that provided relevant local vendors with the opportunity to sell their products face to face with customers using mobile card readers.

All small businesses featured in the submitted films will receive free access to tools, education and insights through the Mastercard Digital Acceleration Program to empower them to thrive beyond the pandemic.

To view all entries and find out more, visit competition was sponsored by Pollinate International Ltd. and took place between 25 June 8:00 BST – 6 August 2021 23:59 BST.

The competition launched across 31 countries around the world: UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.

There were two sets of prizes: for filmmakers and for small businesses, subjects of the film.

Filmmakers entered to win one of the six global prizes for the best films, ranging from $1,000 USD to $10,000 USD, and four $3,000 USD prizes for the films that best showcase the themes of Get Paid, Get Capital, Get Digital, Loyal to Local.

Get Paid: SMEs have been trending toward digital banking and payments, with COVID-19 accelerating this shift. Digitalization can streamline payments and ensure proper billing. The pandemic is also driving the use of contactless payments as consumers seek ways to shop with minimal contact.

Get Capital: Cash flow issues have impacted 75% of SMEs, with 71% agreeing that the pandemic prevented them from growing. These challenges can be overcome through new solutions that allow SMEs to access their earnings and micro-credit faster.

Get Digital: The rate of adoption and use of the latest digital technologies has been faster than we could’ve imagined. SMEs now use mobile banking apps to manage their financial affairs and SMEs are finding digital solutions that enable them to open a digital storefront.

Loyal to Local: Consumers are looking to back local now more than ever. Research showed over half of consumers (53%) across the UK, US, Australia and Brazil believe it is more important now to shop locally than it was before the pandemic. The principal drivers behind this support include reinvesting in local economies (45%), keeping money in the community (44%), and driving job growth in the community (43%).

Founded in 2017, Pollinate is a global business headquartered in London. It works with leading banks around the world, including NatWest Group (powering Tyl by NatWest) and National Australia Bank, offering a modern, cloud-based toolkit for SMEs. Agnostic to underlying infrastructure, the platform takes data feeds from any bank and third-party systems. It gives merchants a single place to understand, manage and grow their business, and is built with bank-grade privacy and security at its heart.