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Weathering a Perfect Storm – Part 2: Seven Ways Fintechs Can Survive the COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges to the financial services industry – particularly in emerging markets. In the second article of this two-part series, analysts at MSC explore seven key measures fintechs are taking to stay relevant, augment their recovery and build their resilience during the crisis.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance, Technology
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Weathering a Perfect Storm – Part 1: The Challenges Facing Fintechs in Emerging Markets During COVID-19
Fintechs have proven their potential to deliver financial services to low- and middle-income customers in emerging markets. But even the most innovative approaches can fail in an economy devastated by COVID-19. In this article – the first in a two-part series – analysts at MSC explore the challenges and opportunities the pandemic brings to the fintech sector.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance, Technology
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Tackling the COVID-19 Coffee Crisis: Can Blockchain Strengthen the Link Between Producers and Buyers?
COVID-19 is having a major negative impact on many sectors, and the coffee industry is no exception. The closing of restaurants and cafes has reduced consumption, and according to Isabel van Bemmelen at the Progreso Foundation, coffee producers have been especially hard hit. She explores a blockchain-driven solution that could help producers survive the pandemic.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Coronavirus
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The Blind Spot in Africa’s COVID-19 Response: Western Public Health Tactics Won’t Work – This Local Solution Might
The COVID-19 pandemic is primed to spread in Africa, and with just one doctor per 5,000 people, a major outbreak would overwhelm the continent’s health care systems. But as Anatole Manzi at Partners In Health points out, tactics like social distancing and hand-washing are not feasible in crowded slums and areas without clean water. He proposes a home-grown solution: training young people as community health workers.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Health Care
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When Digital Payment Goes Viral: Lessons from COVID-19’s Impact on Mobile Money in Rwanda
Cash can help spread COVID-19, so some African countries have ramped up efforts to expand digital payments to fight the virus. According to Isabelle Carboni and Hennie Bester at Cenfri, this imperative to digitize is one of the key opportunities to emerge from the pandemic. They explore the early experiences of Rwanda, in assessing the impact these efforts can have.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance
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Food Security During – And After – COVID-19: A Short and Long-Term Strategy for Funding Agribusiness
Over the past 18 months, Grassroots Capital Management had been preparing to launch a fund and technical assistance facility to improve access to capital and technology for smallholder farmers in Central America and the Caribbean. And then COVID-19 happened. Anna Kanze at Grassroots discusses how the pandemic has changed the landscape for smallholders in the region, requiring a new approach from the investors that support them.
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- Agriculture, Coronavirus
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Impact Measurement and Management During COVID-19: Tips and Resources to Help Social Impact Organizations Adapt
As the scope of the COVID-19 economic crisis becomes clear, social impact organizations are scrambling to cut costs. According to Matthew Guttentag and Mallory St. Claire at ANDE, this might lead them to reduce their focus on impact measurement and management (IMM). They explain why this would be a mistake – and how organizations can adapt their IMM activities during the crisis.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Impact Assessment
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Fighting a Pandemic in the Dark: How SolarAid is Helping Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa Respond to COVID-19
As COVID-19 starts to spread through sub-Saharan Africa, John Keane and Sofia Ollvid at SolarAid point out that an estimated 600 million people on the continent live without access to electricity at home, and a staggering 75% of health facilities have unreliable power. They explore what solar providers are doing to help African countries respond to the pandemic.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Energy, Health Care