Partnerships that become products: the L'Oréal Mastercard card

In fintech it's easy to confuse a partnership with a logo on a slide. The ones worth doing end up as a product, as distribution, or both.

A recent example at Clara Mexico: together with L'Oréal and Mastercard we built the L'Oréal Mastercard Business Card, issued by Clara. It's a card designed for stylists and beauty professionals so they can access financing, invest in their salons, get better equipment and grow their businesses. We took it to Expo Beauty Show Mexico, where those customers are.

The interesting part isn't the card itself. It's the logic. A beauty salon is a real business with real working-capital needs, but it is rarely a traditional bank's ideal customer. L'Oréal knows that industry and owns the relationship. Mastercard brings the network. Clara brings the financial product and the technology. Each party contributes what the others lack, and the result is access to financing for a segment that didn't have it easily before.

The pattern repeats. In Colombia, partnerships with Holcim, Avianca LifeMiles and Fendipetróleo were part of how we went from zero to more than 2,000 customers in two years. In Mexico we work with Deloitte, Holcim, Amazon and major banks. Earlier, at Grow, I took part in partnerships and new business models with Rappi, Aval and LATAM Airlines. And today, as a member of Mastercard's LatAm Fintech Council, I discuss with other regional leaders what next-generation payments should look like.

What I've learned about partnerships:

Start with your partner's customer. The question isn't what the partner can do for you, but what problem their customer has that neither of you solves alone.

Each side should bring something that can't be copied. Industry relationships, a payments network, technology. If one side is redundant, the partnership won't last.

Measure the partnership like a channel. Customers, usage and retention. If it doesn't move those numbers, it's marketing, not a partnership.

Fintech in LatAm still has entire industries left to serve. Well-designed partnerships are the fastest way to reach them.