Mastercard proves there’s room for everyone with an initiative in Poland

Mastercard has launched a new digital tool that harnesses the power of data to help Polish and Ukrainian businesses identify the best locations to open their stores, based on a complementary business data model.

The tool, called WhereToStart, is part of Mastercard’s ‘Room for Everyone’ initiative and follows the popular ‘Where to Settle’ platform which uses data to good effect to help displaced Ukrainians find accommodation in Poland where to live outside of the most crowded cities. The campaign won the ODD Grand Prix and a Titanium Lion at Cannes last year. “Room for Everyone” is the next step in ensuring that refugees not only find a place to live, but also a place to thrive in Poland.

The number of entrepreneurs in small and medium-sized businesses is growing steadily in Poland. In 2022, more than 310,000 companies opened their doors on the market and today, around 1,000 new companies are created daily, with one in 10 newly opened companies in Poland being Ukrainian. These figures, together with the PARP1 report, show that the entrepreneurial trend in Poland is on the rise.

WhereToStart meets the needs of people who already have an idea for their business and are looking for the best place to run it. This can help entrepreneurs decide where to open their business based on data showing where the greatest chances of success lie.

WhereToStart was built using anonymized spending trends from Mastercard and additional data such as road traffic or noise levels provided by partners. It is available for free and provides access to information that was previously only available to large companies, now making it accessible to everyone.

“Choosing the right location or adapting it to a chosen industry is a key success factor for many businesses. By offering Room For Everyone to future and current entrepreneurs, we want to help them build their business from the start and, more importantly, help them thrive together. This is a unique tool in Poland to support entrepreneurs of small and medium-sized businesses free of charge. It was created to make the best use of our resources – it is an example of responsible use of data analysis in the service of society and for the development of entrepreneurship,” says Marta Życińska, Managing Director Poland, Mastercard Europe.

How the tool works

WhereToStart is a simple and user-friendly tool, requiring no prior registration, suitable for mobile and desktop devices. The tool presents the results and insights of advanced data analysis – based on various sources, showing not only the business potential of a given location, but also the characteristics of its surroundings, including information on public transport , green spaces or the number of educational establishments, among others. other information. Orange Polska provides ready-made statistics, based on anonymized mobile network data, which constitute an invaluable source of knowledge on urban traffic. So, in one place, you can find a whole range of information that can help you make decisions related to your business.

The tool also allows users to obtain information on complementary businesses, i.e. those that operate in close proximity to each other and thrive better. For example, a bakery and a hairdresser, a pet store and a pharmacy, or even a bookstore and a jewelry store, these “power couples” operating in the neighborhood can count on more customers. Therefore, the neighboring business can be another factor in choosing the optimal location for the business.

Results and information are available for the 37 largest cities in Poland. Thanks to the cooperation with the Morizon-Gratka Group, users of the tool will also benefit from direct access to current offers for the purchase or rental of commercial premises, adapted to their needs and their budgetary limits.

WhereToStart.com uses consumer spending data, which is aggregated and anonymized in accordance with Mastercard’s secure data processing policies. WhereToStart follows the success of Mastercard’s WhereToSettle, which helped Ukrainian citizens arriving in Poland with suggestions on the best place to settle.

In August this year, WhereToStart will be rolled out in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

To access the tool, visit here.