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The Time is Now: How to Build an Inclusive Financial System For All
As global finance leaders gather for this year’s World Bank and IMF meetings, they're meeting against a backdrop of existential crises, from the COVID-19 pandemic to climate change and widening inequalities. Dan Barker at Mastercard's Center for Inclusive Growth and Mackenzie Wallace at the Aspen Institute’s Financial Security Program explore why these crises raise the need – and the opportunity – to build an inclusive financial system for all. They share four principles to guide this process, and discuss the crucial roles policymakers, financial services providers, academia, community groups and NGOs can play.
- Categories
- Finance
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Optimizing Results-Based Financing for Off-Grid Energy: Why Localization Can Provide a Pathway to More Effective Investment
Leading investors across the energy access sector have embraced results-based financing (RBF) as a key mechanism to unlock private capital for small-scale solar and mini-grid businesses, and to advance the world toward universal electrification. But according to Audrey Desiderato at SunFunder and Martijn Veen at SNV, the remote design and management of RBF programs increases the risk that these funds will exclude local actors and innovation. They share findings from a recent white paper exploring the need for more localization in results-based financing for off-grid energy.
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Filling the Water Access Funding Gap: Three Lessons to Maximize the Impact of Innovative Finance
More than two billion people still live without access to safe drinking water, but global funding to meet their water needs is severely lacking. As Lauren Cuscuna of Safe Water Network explains, innovative financing mechanisms can help fill the gap – but blended finance transactions in the water sector are lower than in other industries. She shares three key lessons Safe Water Network has learned while implementing innovative financing approaches to meet the long-term needs of the local water enterprises it works with in Ghana and India.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology, WASH
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Supporting Farmers and Food Systems: How Crowdfunding Can Address Funding Challenges for Agricultural SMEs in Africa
Agriculture employs over 70% of the working population in Africa, making it a cornerstone of the continent's economic progress and livelihood development. But as Esther Mweru and Jerry Sellanga at 2SCALE explain, the financial strain of COVID-19 — combined with previously existing market inefficiencies — is putting many vulnerable farmers and agricultural small and medium enterprises (SMEs) at risk. They explore how crowdfunding can provide a financial lifeline to these smallholders and businesses, and discuss how 2SCALE is using it to support agribusinesses in Mali, Nigeria and Kenya.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Finance, Technology
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An Innovative Approach to Income Volatility: How One Company Is Bringing Income Pooling (Back) to the United States
Low-income communities in emerging markets around the world use income pooling groups to recover from financial shocks or save for much-needed expenditures. As Sarmed Rashid at Pando explains, the practice allows group members to manage their income volatility – a challenge also faced by many professionals in the United States. He explores how Pando is seeking to serve these individuals by creating, organizing and managing income pools for Americans working in entrepreneurship and sports, while aiming to expand its focus to include poverty alleviation and economic development.
- Categories
- Finance
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Three Common Mistakes Startups Make When Running Lean Experiments – And How To Avoid Them
Reaching product-market fit is critical to growing a startup, but the process can be chaotic, as founders must solve multiple problems at once. But while planning and strategizing can address some of these issues, Akansha Kasera and Malika Anand at Catalyst Fund argue that the most robust solutions come from experiments and iterations. They explore the lean experimentation approach used by Catalyst Fund's portfolio companies, share a free product-market fit toolkit that can guide experiment design — and highlight three mistakes to avoid during this crucial process.
- Categories
- Finance, Impact Assessment
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Financial Services That Work for Young People: How Social Norms Impact Financial Resilience Among the Youth in Africa
Financial service providers are capable of reaching young people in Africa, but not without a deep understanding of how social norms and expectations are impacting their financial access and usage, say Lise Paaskesen at Lise Consultancy and Weselina Angelow at the World Savings and Retail Banking Institute. They explore research that suggests how providers can improve young people's opportunities and resilience by offering services that foster autonomy, decision-making and bargaining power — which in turn can contribute to changing social norms in those areas.
- Categories
- Finance
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Financial Inclusion During – And After – COVID-19: The 2021 Compass Survey Reveals the True Scale of the Challenges Ahead
COVID-19 has upended the global financial inclusion sector, causing immense new challenges for low-income clients, their households and businesses, providers, funders, and the broader ecosystem. The full extent of this impact won't be seen until the pandemic fully subsides, but trends are emerging. Sam Mendelson at e-MFP shares findings from the organization's most recent Financial Inclusion Compass survey, which asked a broad cross-section of stakeholders where they see these increasingly complex issues trending — and what they’d like to see in the future.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance
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