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Beyond the Bubble: What’s Cool, Potentially Cool, And Clearly Not Cool About Bitcoin in Financial Inclusion?
Bitcoin owners are laughing all the way to the (virtual) bank: The cryptocurrency’s value has gone up over 2,000 percent in the past year. But along with concerns about a likely "market correction," this has raised some pressing questions about its value as a tool for financial inclusion. Ignacio Mas explores Bitcoin's potential on that front, offering four points to consider.
- Categories
- Finance, Investing, Technology
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The Clear Blue Water on the Other Side of the Digital Divide
Digital financial exclusion represents both a development challenge for poor customers, and a missed opportunity for providers, says MicroSave founder Graham Wright. While providers fight for a share of the most profitable and easiest-to-reach markets, they often overlook the vast commercial potential of lower-income communities – in territory that is largely not competed. Wright explores how to tap into this "fiercely loyal" market.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Investment = Inclusion: Can Fintech, With a Boost from Investors, Level the Playing Field for the Unbanked in Africa?
Fintech – particularly mobile finance – is increasingly vital to Africa's economic growth. But despite the continent's impressive mobile money penetration, much of its population remains unbanked or underbanked. That’s why it’s so encouraging to see another trend developing in tandem with Africans’ embrace of fintech: namely, investors’ embrace of African fintech companies. Iftin Fatah at OPIC explores why more investment means more digital financial inclusion.
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Value, Not Volume: Four Ways Entrepreneurs Can Help Restore Trust in India’s Health Care Providers
India’s health care providers are facing a crisis of public distrust, and at its root is the way care is paid for. Most health care is delivered by the private sector, where providers earn based on the quantity of procedures, tests and consultations delivered – whether or not those services make patients healthier. Patients know that this profit motive can lead to excessive and costly care, but most have neither the knowledge nor confidence to question a provider’s judgment. Chintan Maru discusses ways to restore their trust.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Tags
- public health
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Blended Finance Gets a $500 Million Boost: Convergence CEO Discusses Groundbreaking Partnership with IFC
US $2.5 trillion: That’s the estimated funding gap the world needs to close in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. To achieve this daunting goal, says Convergence CEO Joan Larrea, “We need to tap into new sources of capital, particularly from private investors” – a goal Convergence advances by connecting, educating and supporting investors to execute blended finance transactions. This approach recently got a half billion dollar shot in the arm; our interview with Larrea reveals how.
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- Health Care, Investing
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Beyond the Beach: Exploring Partnerships for Sustainable Tourism
According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, tourism provides one in 10 jobs globally, and even more in developing countries. In the Caribbean, for instance, it directly or indirectly creates nearly one in every five jobs. The Conference on Jobs & Inclusive Growth: Partnerships for Sustainable Tourism will explore how tourism can "create good jobs, provide opportunities for inclusion and education, and assist in preserving cultural heritage and the environment." NextBillion will be a media partner at the event.
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- Uncategorized
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Making Tech Work: How Local Know-How Can Improve Digital Financial Inclusion Solutions in Challenging Markets
Technology can eliminate inefficiencies, collect valuable information and expand access to critical services. But technological solutions often replace indigenous, ad-hoc approaches which – though they may appear incomplete and messy – reflect the knowledge and relationships of the parties involved. Asa Nyaga at BFA explores how Farmerline, a Ghana-based tech company serving smallholders, aligned the product design of a new app with the ideas and understandings of its target users.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Finance, Technology
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Reimagining Slums: Innovative Solutions to Bangladesh’s Urban Housing Dilemma
Bangladesh's housing deficit has quadrupled in the last decade and, in the absence of adequate measures, it is projected to increase to 8.5 million units by 2021. Due to extreme demand and lack of rent control in slums, housing prices are sky-high. BRAC's Asif Saleh and Mahira Khan say these challenges highlight an opportunity for testing out models for urban development that leverage government, private business and the development sector.
- Categories
- Investing, Uncategorized
