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The Curious Case of Myanmar: Can the Country Leapfrog to Digital Financial Inclusion?
Fueled by years of repressed demand, cheap Chinese phones, softening regulations and an aggressive push by the country’s mobile network operators, Myanmar leapfrogged from practically zero phones to almost exclusively smartphones. Looking at this stark contrast, a natural question arises – can Myanmar leapfrog from financial exclusion to "digital" financial inclusion, just as it did in telecom?
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Safaricom sets up online sales portal as net profit hits $252 million
Telecommunications firm Safaricom has established an online sales platform in a move expected to roil Kenya’s fast-growing e-commerce market.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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MTN Takes on Vodacom to Become Africa’s Biggest Digital Bank
Already the continent’s biggest mobile-phone company by subscribers, Johannesburg-based MTN is adding about 500,000 active banking customers a month, Chief Executive Officer Rob Shuter, 50, said on Wednesday. About 20 million people use MTN’s mobile banking now, he said in an interview at Bloomberg’s office in the South African city.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- fintech
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Google Tez sees early success in India
It already has more than 7.5 million users, and has seen more than 30 million transactions since its launch in September. But it's no surprise that Google's seen early success in India.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech
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The Longest Last Mile: Are India’s Poor Ready for Digital Financial Services?
With the Indian government working to transform the country into a digital economy, the focus of financial inclusion is heavily inclined toward digital financial services for all. But are India’s poor ready for this shift? Anoushaka Chandrashekar and Misha Sharma at IFMR LEAD argue that poor customers are far from reaching this stage, and that policymakers and practitioners should focus on access and usage, rather than introducing digital products that very few people use.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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MTN Ghana sanctions 3,000 agents for mobile money fraud
In an interview on the sidelines of a media encounter with the Journalists for Business Advocacy (JBA) in Accra on Thursday, the Senior Manager for Anti-money Laundering, Compliance and Analytics at MTN Mobile Money, Mr Godwin Tamakloe, said some of the agents were currently being processed for prosecution.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Safaricom CEO takes medical leave for ‘number of months’
Company chairman Nicholas Ng’ang’a made the announcement in a circular to employees, but did not disclose the nature of Mr Collymore’s sickness.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- fintech
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Snapcart raises $10M to shed light on consumer spending in emerging markets
Co-founded by four executives including CEO Reynazran Royono, who previously worked as a consultant for Procter & Gamble and Boston Consulting, the startup uses the humble receipt to track consumer spending with deeper clarity than is currently done in Southeast Asia and other emerging markets.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
- Tags
- fintech
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