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In Sierra Leone, New Kiva Protocol Uses Blockchain to Benefit Unbanked
The National Civil Registration Commission developed the national digital identity platform with support from Kiva, a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco that allows people to lend money to low-income people around the world, as well as the United Nations Capital Development Fund and the United Nations Development Programme.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Why More Tech Companies Are Launching ‘Lite’ Apps
With 6.47 billion people living in developing economies, there’s a lot of potential for technology firms to tap on — but they need to take a different approach because of technological limitations, according to analysts.
- Categories
- Technology
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Unlocking the Medical Equipment Donation Ecosystem: Is a Blockchain Marketplace the Solution?
Every year hundreds of thousands of dollars of medical equipment is donated to hospitals in emerging markets, only to remain unused due to lack of knowledge, parts or maintenance. According to Vikas Meka, a blockchain-based donation platform could help – but it would be difficult to entice stakeholders to use it. He explores a solution: A token-driven marketplace that could unlock new social and economic value in the medical equipment donation ecosystem.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
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Surviving the ‘Valley of Death’: A New Funding Database Aims to Help Agtech Companies Avoid Early-Stage Failure
Population growth and climate change are bringing extraordinary challenges to the agriculture sector in emerging markets. But though small- and medium-sized enterprises are essential to addressing these issues, they remain underfunded – particularly in the period before they become profitable (often referred to as the ‘‘Valley of Death’’). Aarno Keijzer at NpM explores these challenges, and presents a free database that NpM has compiled, highlighting funds that can help early-stage agriculture companies bridge this financial gap.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Technology
- Tags
- agtech, business development, data, failure
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Viewpoint: Perpetual Debt in the Silicon Savannah
One Kenyan argued the apps are ‘enslaving’ people—from the working poor to the salaried classes—by making claims on their future labor.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Kenya’s Innovative Strength Sees the Country Ranked the Leading Tech Hub in Sub-Saharan Africa by WIPO
According to the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), Kenya’s so-called Silicon Savannah is unrivalled in sub-Saharan Africa.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Why Jumia Seems to Be Getting It Right in Africa
Despite difficulties and some naysayers, Nigerian start-up Jumia shows the way by finding an e-commerce niche in Africa.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- e-commerce
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Press Release: More Than Half a Million Rohingya Refugees Receive Identity Documents, Most for the First Time
This comprehensive registration being simultaneously carried out in all refugee settlements in Cox’s Bazar – is meant to ensure the accuracy of data on refugees in Bangladesh, giving national authorities and humanitarian partners a better understanding of the population and their needs.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- data, digital identity, refugees
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