-
NatSave, Mastercard partner to drive digital transformation and financial inclusion in Zambia
The partnership supports Zambia’s National Financial Inclusion Strategy 2017 to 2022, which aims to increase financial inclusion from 59 per cent to 80 per cent.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
-
A microloan can help poor people in Bangladesh. What about New Jersey?
The Grameen Bank, one of the pioneers of microfinance, which has been operating its program in Bangladesh since the 1970s, released a study on one of its programs in New Jersey. The program works like this: Low-income women apply for a microloan as part of a small group, and all members of the group are accountable for ensuring each member makes payments.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- North America
-
Nala has built a hassle-free, offline mobile money payment platform for Africa
While at least a hundred million Africans hold mobile money accounts, the process of transacting over the services is difficult, so Nala made an application that acts as an interface on top of the unstructured supplementary service data layer to make money transfers and payments much easier.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
Subscribe to Our Weekly Newsletter, "NextBillion Notes"
Published each Wednesday, our e-newsletter features NextBillion's latest original articles, along with a selection of news, jobs, bizdev opportunities and events from our recent coverage — and regular conference ticket giveaways.
We respect your privacy. Your information is safe and will never be shared.
Don't miss out. Subscribe today.