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Big Challenge, Simple Solution: Could Bookkeeping Take India’s Small Businesses from Good to Great?
Small businesses tend to dream big and start small, but somewhere in the middle they do not grow. According to Vikas Kabra at Menterra, in his interactions with small merchants in India, he's noticed a surprisingly simple obstacle to their growth: a lack of bookkeeping. Out of hundreds of micro-merchants he has interacted with, barely any track their day-to-day business performance. Kabra discusses the problem, and calls for new tech-based solutions that could make bookkeeping fast, easy and approachable for small business owners.
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- Finance
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Finding the Right Balance: A Toolkit for Regulating Digital Financial Services in Emerging Markets
The number of financially excluded adults has dropped from 2.5 billion in 2011 to 1.7 billion in 2017, thanks largely to digital financial services (DFS). However, finding the right regulatory balance for these services is not easy: Too much regulation can undermine the business case for DFS, while too little can leave consumers exposed. Anton Didenko and Ross Buckley at the University of New South Wales discuss a recent paper that seeks to address these challenges through a comprehensive analytical framework – what they call the Regulatory Diagnostic Toolkit.
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- Finance, Technology, Telecommunications
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Five Things We’ve Learned Creating Data Standards for Inclusive Fintech
It’s no secret that capital is flowing into fintech. In 2018, global fintech investments exceeded USD $100 billion. Yet this investment is highly concentrated among a relatively small group of companies. Blaine Stephens and Chrissy Martin Meier of MIX share five insights from a new research initiative based on 40 interviews with fintechs, investors and ecosystem actors, designed to drive capital to inclusive fintechs in hopes of reaching 1.7 billion unbanked people around the world.
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- Finance, Investing, Technology
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The Financial Inclusion Gender Gap is Wide. Which FinTechs Are Working to Narrow It?
Significantly more women than men around the world lack access to digital finance – and in some countries, the gender gap is actually getting worse. According to Alina Kaiser at DFS Lab, that's why her organization is bringing a gender focus to their own work. It's also why they're recognizing and rewarding the efforts of other organizations to tackle this gap, by launching the Female-Focused Fintech Prize. Kaiser discusses the problem and some potential solutions, and invites interested fintechs to apply for the prize – applications are open until May 15.
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- Finance, Technology
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Can Superplatforms Transform Financial Inclusion in the Least Developed Countries? Emerging Insights from Nepal
Superplatforms like Google, Amazon, Facebook and Alibaba are at the forefront of technology in countries around the world. But can their model work down market? Using insights generated by homegrown superplatforms in Nepal, Keyzom Ngodup Massally and Audrey Misquith at UNCDF discuss their potential to build a new-generation financial sector in the least developed countries.
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- Finance, Technology
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Speculating on the Future of Financial Inclusion: Predictions, Solutions (and Warnings) for the Next 20 Years
We live in extraordinary times: In the next 20 years, futuristic technologies like drones, driverless cars, virtual reality and robotics will transform communities and entire industries. Meanwhile, says MSC founder Graham Wright, breakthroughs in areas like artificial intelligence, big data and mobile connectivity will have a similar impact on financial inclusion. Wright makes some bold predictions, and highlights the trends and technologies that are likely to play important roles in the sector’s development.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Four Reasons Kenya’s Economy Might Not Be as Inclusive as You Think
When it comes to building inclusive economic systems, Kenya is often held up as a global standard. And with 73% mobile money penetration and 82% financial inclusion rates, it's easy to see why. But as Brigit Helms at DAI points out, the “Silicon Savannah” isn't always as inclusive as it seems. She explores four reasons why the country is still falling short in serving its most excluded communities and customers.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Don’t Fear the Algorithm: The Risks and Benefits Of Machine Learning in Finance
Billions of people around the world lack access to basic financial services, and far too many promising entrepreneurs are deprived of financial opportunities simply because they don’t have a credit history. As JUMO founder and CEO Andrew Watkins-Ball sees it, this lack of access is fundamentally a technology problem – and machine learning can help solve it. But algorithm-assisted banking is not without risks: Watkins-Ball discusses its benefits and downsides, and how it's powering JUMO's work in Africa and Asia.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology