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The Winds of Change: Mobilizing Microfinance for Climate Change Resilience
Though the world is slowly taking action on climate change, much of the debate still focuses on mitigation. In fact, adaptation – becoming resilient to the changes to come – is equally important, say Daniel Rozas and Sam Mendelson at e-MFP. They explore how the financial inclusion industry can help vulnerable communities develop resilience to the disruptions of climate change, and to adapt to permanently changed environments. This year’s European Microfinance Award aims to inspire the sector to make this fundamental shift – interested providers can apply for the €100,000 award until April 9, 2019.
- Categories
- Environment, Finance
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Viewpoint: Show Me the Money: Does Going Cashless Hurt Financial Inclusion?
At first glance, the ban on cashless stores seems to fly in the face of the drive towards a truly digital economy, but both sides of the table have compelling arguments.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- North America
- Tags
- digital payments
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Unpacking NextBillion’s Reader Survey: What the Responses Show – And How They’ll Shape Our Coverage
You likely noticed that NextBillion has been conducting a reader survey over the past few months. But you may not have noticed that the survey recently concluded. In the spirit of transparency – and because we find the results interesting – we’ve compiled some highlights from the 500+ responses. We also share our initial reactions to this reader feedback, and discuss how this survey data might impact new editorial directions on the site.
- Categories
- Finance, Social Enterprise, Technology
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Alarm Over Numbers of Mobile Loan Defaulters in Kenya
Currently, there are more than 380,000 Kenyans that have so far defaulted on loans taken from mobile money lenders according to a comprehensive report by Metropol Corporation CEO, Sam Omukoko.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- fintech
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Paypal to invest $750M, and Dragoneer $100m, into MercadoLibre, Argentina’s e-commerce powerhouse
“Digital commerce in Latin America is experiencing tremendous growth and MercadoLibre is well-positioned for continued leadership,” said Dan Schulman, president and CEO, PayPal, in a statement. “We’ve been impressed with the digital commerce and payments ecosystem Marcos and his team have built.”
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Latin America
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Scaling Access to Finance: Two Recent Studies Explore the Supply and Demand Sides of Funding ‘Missing Middle’ Enterprises in Emerging Markets
Over $5 trillion: That’s the estimated size of the financing gap for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries – a shortfall that's particularly problematic for the much-discussed “missing middle.” Since these businesses form the backbone of local economic growth and job creation in many communities, we need to better understand the challenges they face, says Karina Avakyan at Triple Jump. She explores two recent publications that address both sides of SMEs’ financing equation.
- Categories
- Finance
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Safaricom increases e-commerce stakes after Alibaba Group deal
“This partnership seeks to connect Kenyans to even more business opportunities by enabling them to seamlessly source, purchase and import goods from the world’s leading manufacturers,” Safaricom Chief customer officer Sylvia Mulinge said.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology, Telecommunications
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Can sustainable companies get a lower cost of capital?
Green bonds have been making headlines in the sustainable finance world the past few years because of their rapid growth. Emerging this year as a rising star in sustainable finance are green and sustainability loans.
- Categories
- Finance
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