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Nobel winner Muhammad Yunus wants two financial systems—one for the rich and one for the poor
Last month, the 10-year-old US division of Grameen announced that it had provided more than $1 billion in loans to 106,000 women. Over the next decade, it plans to provide $1 billion in loans every year, and nearly double the number of branches, to 42.
- Categories
- Finance
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Press release: Tez Financial Services Becomes the First Pakistani Startup to Raise $1.1 Million in Seed Round Led by Omidyar Network
"Our aim is to become the primary financial service provider for the unbanked and underbanked in Pakistan," said Nadeem Hussain, co-founder and CEO of Tez, who has more than 30 years of experience in the global financial services industry.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- South Asia
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Africans Fear Trend Toward Taxes on Data, Mobile Money
The telecom companies say taxes on mobile payments introduced by a string of countries hurt their revenues and threaten much-needed investment in infrastructure.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology, Telecommunications
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Gates Foundation Partners Ripple and Coil in Financial Inclusion Initiative
Other than implementing Ripple’s Interledger Protocol, ways of using open source payments software MojaLoop to enable disbursement systems geared towards the poor will be explored. Gates Foundation provided the funding which financed the development of MojaLoop (which borrows the Swahili word Moja, meaning one).
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Mobile money transfers have taken off in Somalia, but it’s a risky business
Unlike Kenya’s famous Mpesa mobile money transfer services, Somalia’s transfers are mainly available in US dollars. Though the companies offering mobile money services are mobile network operators, as in Kenya, they are increasingly forming part of large conglomerates that also offer banking and money transfer services.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- fintech
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Tez Financial Services Raises $1.1M in Seed Funding
The company intends to use the funds to build its credit portfolio, enhance its mobile technology platform, and secure an NBMFC license.
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- fintech, mobile finance
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IFC and Alipay Announce 10×1000 Tech for Inclusion Programme to Inspire Technology Leaders in Emerging Markets
Alibaba Group founder and Executive Chairman Jack Ma said that the programme aims to build an interactive and open platform to increase support for tech leaders and skilled individuals who are working to alleviate poverty and make basic financial services more broadly accessible in Indonesia, which will be the first stop of the programme within emerging markets.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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‘Fintech can transform Asia’s women entrepreneurs’
The ESCAP initiative, launched on 29 September on a side meeting during the 2018 UN General Assembly, viewed women’s entrepreneurship as key to economic growth and inclusion.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Asia Pacific