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Press release: Mastercard and Unilever Break Down Barriers to Growth for Micro Entrepreneurs with First-of-its-Kind Digital Lending Platform
“Financial inclusion is a key enabler of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals – lifting individuals out of poverty and supporting overall economic growth. By broadening our collaboration with Mastercard, working across sectors and including additional private and public partners, we are further expanding the positive impact of financial and economic inclusion” said Paul Polman, chief executive, Unilever.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Viewpoint: Saving financial inclusion
I need no convincing that society requires people to be part of a formal financial system in order to thrive, nor that exclusion, whereby products and services are not available or are unaffordable, needs to be addressed. But it feels like financial inclusion has been engulfed by a focus on payments and transactions that misses its larger aim.
- Categories
- Finance
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Viewpoint: Lessons from China’s mobile payments revolution
There is no disputing that China is ahead of the rest of the world in mobile payments. What insight does it offer U.S. bankers?
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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From New York to Madagascar: Why I Moved My Fintech Startup to Africa
“Everyone has a plan ‘till they get punched in the mouth.” That Mike Tyson quote rang true for Sidharth Garg, who was forced to go back to the drawing board after his Manhattan-based fintech startup's chatbot failed to engage customers. But that setback soon became an opportunity: Garg explains how shifting focus from the U.S. to Madagascar set the company on a new path to growth, in the latest post in NextBillion's "Course Correction in Social Enterprise" series.
- Categories
- Finance, Social Enterprise
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One of the world’s biggest mobile money services wants to become a social network
Kenya mobile network operator Safaricom is launching a platform that will allow its customers to send and receive money while they chat. The move is set to reinforce the dominance of the world’s mobile money transfer service M-Pesa, advance its ambition to become an innovative global business, while also facilitating a further connection between tens of millions of subscribers.
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- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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bKash, Ant Financial to promote financial inclusion in Bangladesh
The partnership involves Ant Financial investing into bKash and increasing its technological capabilities, allowing it to provide greater convenience and security in mobile financial services throughout Bangladesh.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- South Asia
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MTN brings mobile money ‘ATMs’ to Ghana
When this new module is introduced, customers will not necessarily have to visit mobile money vendors to transact business.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Supporting the ‘Safe Journey’: How Mobile Tech is Making Migration More Secure and Less Costly
In Nepal’s rural areas, foreign employment in wealthy economies like Qatar, Saudi Arabia and South Korea can be a huge economic opportunity. But migrants to these countries are often exploited by employment brokers and others, who take advantage of the complexity of the migration process to charge high fees for job placements or loans. Benjamin Lokshin at the Asia Foundation discusses the foundation's innovative 'Shuvayatra' platform, which leverages mobile tools to help bridge the gaps between migrants and providers of important services.
- Categories
- Finance
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