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Creating a Local Means of Exchange for African Entrepreneurs: How a Blockchain-Based Community Currency Gained Traction in Tanzania
In African communities, the lack of disposable income often hinders economic growth, and many local entrepreneurs are excluded from centralized, formal finance. Malik El Bay at the Encointer Association and Alinagwe Mwaselela at Jukumu NGO explore how their organizations are addressing this issue by leveraging blockchain technology to enable community members in Dar es Salaam to independently create and manage their own local cryptocurrency. They explain how this community currency model can be leveraged to support economic growth and entrepreneurship across Africa and other emerging markets.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Press Release: SMFG and IFC Partner to Launch the World’s First Digital Inclusion Bond, Supporting Growth and Job Creation through MSMEs in Emerging Markets
This landmark transaction marks IFC’s first investment in a thematic bond focused on digital inclusion as well as its first investment in Total Loss-Absorbing Capacity (TLAC)-eligible instruments in the Asia Pacific region.
- Categories
- Finance, Investing, Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Analysis: BII’s Problem Isn’t Ambition, It’s Capital—and Here’s How to Fix It
The UK’s development budget is under sustained pressure, with planned reductions from £15.4 billion to £9.2 billion, a reduction of roughly £6.1 billion by 2027.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Global
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Leveraging the Currency of Trust: How Social Commerce Data Can Inform Risk Management and Bring Formal Finance to Women-Led MSMEs
Across emerging markets, millions of women entrepreneurs operate in trust-based economies invisible to formal credit systems. As Nabilla Prita Fiandini and Monica Christy at MicroSave Consulting (MSC) explain, these businesses rely on their social reputations and customer relationships to survive, and often use platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp to market their products. They share insights from a recent MSC report based on surveys and interviews with hundreds of social sellers across Indonesia, exploring how data from these entrepreneurs' social commerce activity can be used to boost their access to formal finance.
- Categories
- Finance
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Viewpoint: After 2030: Defending the Global Goals in an Age of Retreat
If the SDGs are to be replaced or reimagined after 2030, the most urgent task is to identify what must not be lost.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Education, Energy, Environment, Finance, Health Care, Investing, Technology, WASH
- Region
- Global
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State of Mexico, Afirme Target 10,000 MSME Loans in 2026
Under the agreement, the state government provides guarantees while the financial institution supplies the capital.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Latin America
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Pan-African Fintech NALA Deepens Stablecoin Rails to Speed up Dollar Flows
Partnering with Noah allows NALA to offer global account usage, where companies can collect dollars anywhere in the world and pay out instantly in local currencies, all through licenced, regulated rails, said Fernandes.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Press Release: Mal Closes Record $230 Million Seed Round to Build World’s First AI-Native Islamic Digital Bank
This will be the world's first AI-native Islamic financial platform targeting the world’s 2 billion Muslim population and other underbanked communities.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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