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Relief for MSME Workers as New Pension Scheme Opens Door to Affordable Retirement Savings in Kenya
The deal aims to bring micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) into the country’s formal pension system through the Octagon Umbrella Retirement Benefits Scheme.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- financial health, MSMEs, partnerships, savings
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Habitat for Humanity International and Symbiotics Join Forces to Accelerate and Scale Affordable, Inclusive and Sustainable Housing Finance
“One in 3 people on Earth don’t have a safe, affordable home, and the global need has accelerated in recent years as more and more housing markets have broken,” said Habitat for Humanity International CEO Jonathan Reckford.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Global
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Carbon Offsets Fail to Cut Global Heating Due to ‘Intractable’ Systemic Problems, Study Says
While the industry and diplomats have made efforts to improve the system, it found much-awaited rules agreed at a UN climate summit last year “did not substantially address the quality problem”.
- Categories
- Environment, Finance
- Region
- Global
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How India’s Non-Bank Financial Companies are Closing the MSME Credit Gap — And What Other Emerging Markets Can Learn from Their Success
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) make up around 90% of businesses and employ over half of the workforce globally, while generating up to 40% of GDP and creating 70% of formal jobs in emerging markets. Yet according to Sameer Nanda at Ugro Capital Limited, these businesses face an ongoing credit gap that, in India alone, amounts to an estimated ₹80 trillion. He explains how non-bank financial companies are addressing this gap by offering dynamic and flexible lending services designed for MSMEs — and shares useful lessons from their approach that can be applied in other emerging economies with similar credit challenges.
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Zippi, a Brazilian Digital Credit Fintech, Raises Us$15.9 Million to Expand Credit Access for Micro and Small Businesses in Brazil
Securitized through FIDC and supported by Tiger Global, the capital will help double the credit offering to underserved entrepreneurs and SMEs.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Latin America
- Tags
- credit scoring, fintech, MSMEs, startups
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P4G Awards $3.8 Million to 14 Climate Startups Driving Green Innovation in Emerging Markets
This funding will help these early-stage businesses grow breakthrough solutions making them investment-ready to accelerate green growth in emerging markets.
- Categories
- Energy, Finance, Technology
- Region
- Global
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When AI Gets It Wrong: Lessons from a Women-Centered Design Experiment Highlight the Need for Inclusive GPTs
In emerging markets, women entrepreneurs continue to face systemic barriers to financial inclusion. And as Koheun Lee at CARE explains, ChatGPT and other AI models sometimes contribute to this exclusion, reinforcing societal biases that limit women’s potential for business growth and long-term financial health. She shares insights from CARE's attempt to build a women-centered design GPT — and proposes some practical steps AI users can take to mitigate bias against women when working with mainstream GPTs.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Beyond Shock, Money or Mandate: Why African Banks Aren’t Taking Bold Climate Action — And What it Will Take to Move Forward
Africa is one of the most climate-vulnerable regions in the world. Yet though climate finance has emerged as a growing solution, African banks have yet to truly ramp up their climate lending. As Carla Legros and Anthony Mbithi argue, one reason for this lack of urgency is that the financial case for this lending has rarely been framed in ways that resonate with how banks operate — namely, as a clear money-making opportunity in the near to medium term. They share a framework for understanding financial institutions' level of engagement in climate finance, providing funders and policymakers with a tool they can use to match their interventions to banks’ institutional reality.
- Categories
- Environment, Finance, Investing
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