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From Credit Cards to the ATM: Why Interoperability is the Critical Next Step for Mobile Payments
One of the first modern disruptors to established payment methods was the credit card, which allowed people to simply sign for their purchases and be billed later. Then came the ATM, which helped to establish a web of bank networks. Mobile money systems are the latest disruptor, particularly in low-income markets where banking systems have not always served customers. But to grow and be financially inclusive, mobile money will need to replicate many of the same factors that drove the popularity of credit cards and ATMs, argues Vahid Monadjem, CEO of Nomanini.
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- Finance, Technology
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Why Sustainable Food is Key to Impact Investing in China
Tao Zhang founded one of China’s first impact investing vehicles for environmental SMEs, with a focus on the industrial sector. But he realized that there's a pressing environmental issue brewing at the consumer level – a demand for animal products increasing in tandem with rising incomes, bringing greater greenhouse gas emissions and health disparities. Zhang shares how his Dao Ventures consortium is making consumers part of the solution by partnering with other impact finance entities to boost the availability of – and appetite for – alternative protein sources.
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- Environment, Investing
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Diverse Pathways to Women’s Economic Empowerment: Stories from Three Local Leaders on International Women’s Day
We often think of women’s economic empowerment as focused on achieving material goals like income, credit and jobs. But true empowerment is much more complex, says Mara Bolis, Senior Advisor on Market Systems at Oxfam America. She explores three key conditions that enable economic empowerment, using examples from three women she met in a recent Oxfam visit to Cambodia – a fitting topic for discussion this International Women's Day.
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- Uncategorized
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Seeing the Road Ahead: Women in the Driver’s Seat for Change
Esenam Nyador knows it’s not enough to just give women opportunities in the male-dominated taxi business in Ghana. She’s focused on shifting the mindsets of taxi companies, male drivers and the general public to build an inclusive environment for females to thrive – not just to drive. Nyador is one of several women profiled by Jennifer Vogt, Innovation Manager at Ashoka Social Financial Services. As we near International Women’s Day, Vogt showcases several women who are not only challenging male-dominated workplaces, but the entire systems enabling them.
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- Technology, Transportation
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Freeing the Data to Build the Off-Grid Energy Sector: A Case Study from Tanzania
Mini-grids and solar home systems are showing promise in many parts of Tanzania and other countries. But Christopher Arderne at the World Bank and Pepukaye Bardouille at the IFC flag a key challenge: Lack of coordination and information-sharing between government and the private sector means off-grid developers may target sites that will become grid-connected before they can recover their investments. Arderne and Bardouille share some free new data tools that blend local participation and infrastructure mapping to help off-grid players avoid this risk.
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- Energy, Technology
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Still Waiting for a Seat at the Table: When Will Global Family Planning Focus on Smaller Private Providers?
The family planning community is not on track to reach its goal of 120 million new contraception users by 2020. And though millions of women in the world’s poorest countries rely on private providers for contraception, Andrea Bare at the William Davidson Institute notes that the private sector lacks a major presence in global family planning discussions. She says this needs to change, arguing that small, for-profit providers in particular can help close the gap.
- Categories
- Health Care
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Daring to Think Big: Why It’s Time to Scale Impact-Linked Finance
The 2030 deadline for reaching Sustainable Development Goal targets may sound far off, but for German-based impact advisory firm Roots of Impact, the “SDG financing abyss” is an urgent issue. Three of the organization's leaders say financing the SDGs will require new approaches to investing, including impact-linked finance – a merging of blended finance, impact investing and results-based finance. They lay out a blueprint for accelerating impact-related finance by incorporating outcome funds, utilizing technologies like blockchain and other strategies in this illuminating post.
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Digital Inclusion by Way of Backpack: A Q&A with Imcon International CEO Rob Loud
Internet access has the potential to transform livelihoods in a myriad of ways – and financial inclusion, entrepreneurship and education are just a few of the sectors that stand to benefit. However, despite growing global internet use, billions in rural, hard-to-reach areas still lack access, representing a massive missed opportunity. In this Q&A, Imcon International CEO Rob Loud shares how his company is partnering with governments and NGOs to increase connectivity in the last mile through an affordable, simple device – the humble backpack.
- Categories
- Education, Social Enterprise, Technology
