ENGLEWOOD, Colo.—The Western Union Co. is starting a $50 million, five-year program to create educational and economic opportunities for migrant workers around the world.
The global money-transfer service giant will work with its own foundation and the humanitarian organization MercyCorps to improve the lives of migrant workers and their families, a key customer base for the company.
For example, the money may be used for a school scholarship, to help someone get a business running or for an entrepreneur mentoring program.
“There are so many needs out there, but we wanted to look at where could we make a difference and what are we so much part of,” Western Union Chief Executive Officer Christina Gold said Wednesday during an interview with The Associated Press.
“We’re very much a part of the economic infrastructure in terms of people earning and sending money home,” she said.
Western Union, based in this south Denver suburb, will unveil the program officially on Thursday.
Called “Our World, Our Family,” the program was one of the first priorities identified when Gold who took charge of Western Union as it was spun off last year by electronic card services processor First Data Corp.
It will be launched as some immigrant groups are boycotting Western Union for charging what they call “exorbitant fees” on money transactions but not reinvesting in communities.
Gold reiterated that Western Union is competitive on its pricing and fees, noting that the company’s market share has grown to 17.4 percent from 10 percent three years ago.
Francis Calpotura, executive director of the immigration group Transnational Institute for Grassroots Research and Action, said their goal has been to convince Western Union to invest in communities through organizations that serve immigrants, not through a middle person or government agencies.
“Western Union could absolutely make a decision to be partners with immigrant communities in addressing the problems,” he said. “That’s what we’ve been clamoring for.”
During its first year, the partnership will start with a pilot program in four markets that make up two key migration corridors—between Guatemala and the United States, and between the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates.
While immigrants to the U.S. from Guatemala largely are men, it is the women who leave the Philippines to become domestic workers in the UAE to earn money for families back home, company officials said.
The culture differences can be a difficult barrier to overcome and one that the philanthropic program may help address, said MercyCorps CEO Neal Keny-Guyer, whose organization is based in Portland, Ore.
Initially, they will research the areas and talk with local officials to determine what the needs are and how they can be met, he said.
“If we can figure how to get that right, this represents a platform to have significant, significant impact in terms of reducing poverty, in terms of providing economic opportunity and hope for literally hundreds of thousands if not millions of people,” Keny-Guyer said.
As Western Union prepares to mark its first anniversary as an independent company, it faces fresh competition from companies getting into the $270 billion money-transfer services industry. In addition, technology has advanced the ways people can send money from point to point, including prepaid cards and cell phones, including one being developed by Western Union.
“Competition makes you run faster,” Gold said. “I think it’s been very good for us. We’ve continued to see the market expand because we see more and more migration.”
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