Register by Jan 13 to save on passes and connect with marketers from Uber, Bose and more
‘A new customer segment’: Inside Western Union’s refugee assistance program
Remittance giant Western Union is recognizing that refugee communities can be emerging economies in their own right.
The Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya has 164,571 registered refugees and asylum-seekers, according to the UN Refugee Agency, and more than 500 merchants: produce markets, coffee and tea shops, bars; hardware and electronics shops, clothing stores, bike shops. Most refugee camps operate as largely cash-based economies — an expensive and inconvenient reality.
Now, Western Union and Mastercard are working on creating a digital infrastructure model for refugee camps, with Kenya as their test bed, focusing on mobile money, digital vouchers and cards that remove the intermediaries and losses associated with in-kind donations, brings funds directly to beneficiaries and gives them some control over their financial health.
“Ninety plus percent of refugees will never be granted asylum,” said Maureen Sigliano, head of customer relationship management at Western Union. “A lot of these countries where the bulk of the world refugees are” — Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey — “are poor; hosting such large volumes of refugees puts a burden on those countries. If they have a little cash in their hand, they’re no longer a burden, they become a new customer segment.”
More in Marketing
Retail leaders at Target, Lowe’s and more on the AI investments they’re plotting for 2026
Anywhere from 33% to 83% of respondents used AI to do their holiday shopping in 2025.
Why cookware brand HexClad is sitting out of the Super Bowl for a broader field
With Super Bowl ad costs hitting $8 million, brands like HexClad are pivoting to streaming and other sports stages for a better marketing bet.
Inside the brand and agency scramble for first-party data in the AI era
Brands are moving faster to own first-party data as AI and privacy changes alter the digital advertising landscape.