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Opportunity or Threat: Are Healthy Partnerships Possible Between Digital Financial Services and Microfinance Institutions in Bangladesh?
Microfinance institutions in Bangladesh reach over 32 million customers with a loan portfolio of around US $9 billion. According to Jakirul Islam at Bank Asia, partnerships with digital financial services (DFS) could benefit both microfinance and DFS providers and their customers – but these partnerships are not functioning at their full potential. He shares four key benefits that are driving interest in these collaborations, and explores their inherent challenges – and some partnership models that could address them.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Uruguayan Unicorn’s $10 Billion Nasdaq Float Shows Rising Power of Latin American Tech
South America is slowly emerging as a hotbed for fintech innovation. The world’s arguably biggest challenger bank NuBank hails from Brazil and is rumoured to be gearing up for a public listing in the US.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Latin America
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Press Release: Architect Capital Launches with $100 Million to Provide Asset-Based Financing to Technology Companies in the U.S. And Latin America
Architect Capital, an asset-based lender to early-stage technology businesses, announced that it has launched with over $100 million to provide non-dilutive or less-dilutive financing solutions to high-growth and technology-enabled businesses.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Latin America
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Addressing Predatory Lending Apps: Lessons From the Regulatory Response in Indonesia, India and the Philippines
Digital lending apps have provided financial inclusion to many in emerging markets, but complaints about predatory practices have been surging over the last two years. Financial inclusion and consumer protection consultant Hema Bansal explains how misleading marketing, inadequate disclosure of pricing, terms and conditions, and inappropriate collections practices have led to new regulatory responses in Indonesia, India and the Philippines. She shares which of these steps have proven effective — and where there is still room for improvement.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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$100 Million Agriculture Marketing Authority Agro-Bill to Finance Farmers in Zimbabwe
The Agriculture Marketing Authority (AMA) has received all regulatory approvals to raise $100 million through agro-bills to support increased agricultural productivity.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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SVB-Led $100 Million Investment Makes Chipper Cash Africa’s ‘Most Valuable Startup’
Chipper Cash, a three-year-old startup that facilitates cross-border payment across Africa, has closed a $100 million Series C round to introduce more products and grow its team.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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A Cutting Edge Solution to a Global Problem: Why PAYGO Electromagnetic Induction Stoves Will Become the Leading Clean Cooking Technology by 2030
Half of the global population lacks access to clean, modern cooking services, costing the world’s economy approximately $2.4 trillion each year due to the adverse impact of open-fire cooking on health, climate and gender equality. Lachlan Harris, lead engineer at ATEC*, explains why electromagnetic induction stoves are the best option to address this issue. He explores the advantages of this technology in terms of energy efficiency, safety and scalability — and discusses how a pay-as-you-go model can help solve the affordability challenge.
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Agri Fintech Startup Mozare3 Raises Seven-Figure Capital in Pre-Seed Round
Mozare3, an emerging Agri-FinTech startup from Egypt has announced that it raised substantial capital in a pre-seed round led.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Finance, Technology
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
- Tags
- agriculture, fintech
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