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MSMEs Are the Backbone of Developing Economies: New Research Shows How Digital Platforms Can Boost Their Impact
To keep pace with the growing youth population, 600 million new jobs must be created globally over the next 15 years. Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) will be key to that effort, say Alina Kaiser at Caribou Digital and Annabel Schiff at the Mastercard Foundation’s FiDA Partnership. They explore how digital platforms can boost MSMEs in emerging markets, based on learnings from 27 micro-entrepreneurs in Kenya.
- Categories
- Technology
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MetLife Plans To Disrupt $2.7 Trillion Life Insurance Industry Using Ethereum Blockchain
If successful, this program has the potential to transform the insurance industry as a whole, creating new markets, products, and the ability to serve a more diverse set of customers at lower price points.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Tags
- blockchain, insurance
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Viewpoint: Facebook’s Libra Cryptocurrency Could Be Great, if Not for Facebook
Libra is the evolution of that early goal, now with grander ambitions. Facebook wants to completely reshape how people make online payments. By detaching from currencies like the U.S. dollar, Libra could bring instant, low-cost digital payments and transfers to anyone with a phone
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Viewpoint: Who’s Going to Use the Big Bad Libra?
There is so much to write about Libra, and so much which has already been written misses the mark, mostly, I think, because most pundits haven’t spent much time in the developing world, which is very clearly the target market here.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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As Tech Cold War Looms, Chinese Internet Giants Like Alibaba and Tencent Tackle Emerging Markets
Chinese internet titans are entering an era of global expansion, another phase of their exponential growth.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Europe & Eurasia
- Tags
- digital finance, fintech
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Orange Eyes Ethiopia Move in Battle for New African Market
Orange SA is considering a bid for a minority stake in Ethiopia’s state-owned phone monopoly as Africa’s second-most populous country prepares to welcome foreign telecommunications investors for the first time.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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African Fintech Dominates Catalyst Fund’s 2019 Startup Cohort
The organization announced its 2019 startup cohort and three out of the four finance ventures — Chipper Cash, Salutat and Turaco — have an Africa focus (Brazil-based venture Diin, was the fourth).
- Categories
- Finance, Investing, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Moving Beyond Credit: Why Savings Should Take Center Stage in Digital Financial Inclusion
As mobile money continues to overtake traditional banking in emerging markets, putting financial services within reach of the unbanked, credit remains front and center in the conversation. But Buhle Goslar at JUMO says it's time to focus on an important yet underutilized tool that could help promote a well-rounded, healthy financial life for excluded customers – savings. She details how new tech and training programs can go beyond simple access and towards a new culture of savings.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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