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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
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How Latino Entrepreneurs Can Fight Intergenerational Poverty: The Impact of Retirement Plans
Hispanics in the United States have an estimated buying power of $1.4 trillion – about 10 percent of the country's buying power. Despite this economic clout, they lag behind in retirement savings. Traditionally, many have taken care of their elderly parents and, in turn, expect their children to do the same for them. Manuel Carvallo of Hispanic Wealth suggests it's time for the growing number of Latino entrepreneurs to take the lead by establishing retirement plans.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
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Empowering OPIC: Why the U.S. Should Embrace Development Finance and Harness the Power of Impact Investing
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) supports projects in nearly 100 countries around the world, leveraging limited public investment to attract billions of dollars in private capital. And for 39 consecutive years, it has returned money to the Treasury, reducing the deficit by $2.6 billion over the past eight years alone. Yet it remains constrained in the types of investments it can make. Fran Seegull urges the U.S. to let OPIC better harness the momentum of impact investing.
- Categories
- Investing, Social Enterprise
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The Curious Case of Myanmar: Can the Country Leapfrog to Digital Financial Inclusion?
Fueled by years of repressed demand, cheap Chinese phones, softening regulations and an aggressive push by the country’s mobile network operators, Myanmar leapfrogged from practically zero phones to almost exclusively smartphones. Looking at this stark contrast, a natural question arises – can Myanmar leapfrog from financial exclusion to "digital" financial inclusion, just as it did in telecom?
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Three Reasons for the African Research Gap – And How to Close It
Sub-Saharan Africa’s population share will more than double in the next 50 years—from 13 percent to 25 percent of the world's population. Despite this growth, its research outputs lag far behind other regions, with just 2 percent of peer-reviewed publications coming from authors there. Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA) program manager Maya Ranganath explores reasons for the gap, and ways CEGA is working to increase the volume of high-quality academic research produced by scholars in the region.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Education, Health Care
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Something Doesn’t Add Up: Improving Basic Math Skills Among Microentrepreneurs in Rural India
Running any business requires a basic knowledge of arithmetic. Entrepreneurs need to calculate change due on a sale, profits and loss, commissions on product sales, and interest rates on loans. If they can't, their business will likely struggle. As part of a study to identify whether basic math skills contribute to entrepreneurial success in rural India, Madura Microfinance assessed the numerical capabilities of microentrepreneurs. The results were surprising – and somewhat alarming.
- Categories
- Education
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Making it Rain: Solar-Powered Irrigation and the ‘Household Productivity Ladder’
Solar energy can be put to many constructive uses in emerging market households, but SunCulture focuses on helping smallholder farmers move water. Why? Because it has the greatest impact on a key area: household productivity. Their CEO Samir Ibrahim shares the story of a SunCulture customer, whose experiences highlight the value of solar-powered irrigation to 2.5 billion farmers living on less than $2 a day.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, Social Enterprise, Technology
