Meet French handballer and Team Visa athlete, Dika Mem
Dika started his youth handball career at French club Eaubonne before joining Pôle Espoirs and Saint-Gratien. He would make the jump to the senior division with Tremblay-en-France at the age of 17, only four years after picking up the sport.
In his first and only season with Tremblay, Dika scored 93 goals in 25 games, skyrocketing him to the top of the international handball scene, joining Spanish club FC Barcelona in 2016 where he has remained ever since. In recent years, he’s taken a starring role in the team, leading them to back-to-back EHF Champions League wins in 2021 and 2022, and being named to the EHF Champions League All-Star team both years.
Dika began playing for the French National team in 2016 making 103 appearances, with 389 goals for his country.
After winning gold medals at the 2017 World Championships in France and the Olympics Games Tokyo 2020, Dika and his teammates are preparing for the next Olympic Games in Paris - working hard on their fitness, maximising their aerobic and anaerobic capacity to ensure they’re primed for success.
Anaerobic and aerobic capacity: fit for the here and now, fit for the future
Unlocking his anaerobic and aerobic capacity is core to Dika’s success on the handball court, allowing him to both sprint for the goal, and keep going to the final whistle. So how can we learn from this, and help prepare small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) for today’s fast-paced commercial world, whilst keeping them at peak health for the foreseeable future?
Consumer behaviour has changed radically over the past few years1 , exacerbated by macro factors such as Covid and the cost-of-living crisis. To survive, succeed and grow, businesses – and especially SMBs – must adapt to an increasingly digital economy, meeting the demands of current and future generations.
The notion that anyone with a phone can be a creator also applies to business and retail. Globally we are moving from hundreds of millions of sellers – large and small – to billions of sellers around the world. Anyone today can be a seller – whether it’s reselling second-hand items via the circular economy; working in the gig economy; or those in the creator economy. Visa is working to provide services at scale to reach every type of seller, to help them flourish.
Charlotte Hogg, CEO of Visa Europe, said, “Whether it’s a terminal, tap to pay or enabling businesses to take payments online, what we’re trying to do is make sure all of those tools that are more easily available to big businesses, are available to small businesses as well.”
Dika and his teammates have a clear goal – Olympic success, it’s what’s motivating their preparation. In 2020 Visa set our own goal – to digitally enable 50 million SMBs globally over 3 years – in an effort to support businesses in the wake of the pandemic and promote current and future entrepreneurs of all sizes.
And just as Dika’s coaches have created a tailored programme to build his anaerobic and aerobic capacity, Visa’s range of tailored programmes and solutions build SMB capacity by driving efficiency and sales through the acceptance of digital payments and building online businesses.
By June 2023 we had exceeded our three-year goal, digitally enabling nearly 67 million SMBs globally. In Europe, Visa digitally enabled 13.5 million SMBs between 2020 and 2023 – so it's not only athletes that can break records.
Small, independent businesses make up the heart of the European economy, accounting for more than half of Europe’s GDP and employing around 100 million people2. In the UK, the number of SMBs has increased by 2 million (+60%) since 20003 . Small businesses also drive the global economy, representing around 90% of businesses and more than 50% of employment worldwide4.
These numbers show why supporting small and medium businesses is such a crucial factor in helping global economies to thrive. So we’re the support team for millions of SMBs across Europe, just as we’ll be part of Dika’s support team in Paris
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