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Zimbabwe is hiking mobile money taxes to plug its fiscal deficit, but it could backfire
In a country with a history of cash shortages, multiple currencies and hyperinflation, mobile money had become a key payment alternative. Cash is hardly ever accessible in Zimbabwe as banks frequently run out of monetary notes, leaving mobile money and bank cards as the only transaction options.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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The Definition of Insanity: Why Repeating the Same Approach to Enterprise Support is Failing Africa’s SMEs
It’s often said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. So in a region where 84 percent of SMEs struggle to access capital, why do investors keep recycling the same failed approaches when financing African enterprises? Mercy Mangeni and Joshua Murima at Intellecap discuss what investors and entrepreneurs have done wrong – and explore some innovative ways their organization is working to make it right.
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Western Union Makes Digital Push Amid Fierce Competition for Money Transfers
Of the $81.8 billion Western Union consumers transferred in 2017, 91% was sent across international borders. Raj Agrawal, finance chief of the company, estimated that westernunion.com money-transfer revenue—which includes use of the mobile app—last year topped $400 million, or about 11% of consumer revenue.
- Categories
- Finance
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Africa Roundup: Paga goes global and 4 startups raise $99M in VC
Paga looks to go head to head with regional and global payment players, such as PayPal, Alipay, and Safaricom according to Oviosu.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech, startups
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This is where cryptocurrencies are actually making a difference in the world
Countries in Latin America and Africa are finding stores of value in Dash, bitcoin, ether and other cryptocurrencies.
- Categories
- Finance
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Ahead of Traditional Banking: How Africa Employs Blockchain For Financial Inclusion
On September 27, at the 73rd Session of the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA), Sierra Leone’s president Julius Maada Bio made an announcement where he declared that his country had set a new goal to create a national, blockchain-based credit bureau to “radically transform” the country’s financial inclusion landscape.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Press release: FINCA International and USAID PACE launch FINCA Forward, a fintech innovation platform
Emerging fintech businesses are fundamentally transforming financial services, employing new data analysis solutions and digital delivery systems, in ways that can have substantial outcomes for the world's poor.
- Categories
- Finance
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WorldRemit Offers Free Service For Ethiopian Diaspora In America
WorldRemit, one of the top digital money transfer company, launches a free of charge remittance transfer service for Ethiopian diaspora in the United States.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- North America
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