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Announcing NextBillion’s Most Influential Articles of 2025: Vote for Your Favorites by Jan. 4
NextBillion’s “Most Influential Articles of the Year” contest has been an annual tradition since 2012. As we do each December, we’ve highlighted 12 of our most-read articles from the past year: You can find links to them in this article, or on the homepage below. We invite you to read them and vote for the ones that influenced your thinking the most. You can vote up to once per hour between today (Dec. 19) and 11:59 pm EST on Jan. 4. We thank you for your support and engagement over these past 20 years, and we wish you a happy and prosperous 2026.
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- Energy, Environment, Finance, Investing, Technology, Telecommunications, Transportation
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TenPay Global And Mastercard Collaborate to Enable Fast And Secure Remittances to Weixin Pay
With the steady rise in international travel, global commerce, and overseas employment, the demand for fast, secure and convenient cross-border money transfers continues to accelerate.
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- Technology
- Region
- Global
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Analysis: The Hidden Kenyan Workers Training China’s AI Models
An unemployment crisis has created fertile ground for companies to step in with opaque systems built on WhatsApp groups, middlemen, and bargain-basement wages.
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- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Airtel Africa Partners SpaceX to Roll Out Starlink Direct-to-Cell Connectivity Across 14 Markets
Under the partnership, Airtel Africa becomes the first mobile network operator on the continent to offer Starlink Direct-to-Cell services.
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- Technology, Telecommunications
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Analysis: South Asian SMEs Face Digital Turning Point as AI Adoption Accelerates
While artificial intelligence (AI) has already begun reshaping large corporations in the region, most SMEs remain trapped in traditional, low-efficiency business models that limit scalability and financial resilience.
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- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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EU and Nigeria Seal €45 Million Digital Deal to Accelerate Connectivity, Skills, and Public Services
The agreement completes the EU Digital Economy Package for Nigeria and reinforces both parties’ shared commitment to inclusive, sustainable digital transformation.
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- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Viewpoint: Babyl Paradox: When Evidence-Based Digital Success Cannot Beat Corporate Failure
A platform delivering superior healthcare outcomes became another cautionary tale of corporate failure.
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- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Microsoft Investing $17.5 Billion in India for AI and Cloud Infrastructure
The announcement underscores the growing global competition among major technology companies to expand in India, which has become one of the world’s fastest-growing digital markets.
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- Investing, Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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