-
Fintech Deals in South East Asia Hit Record Numbers in 2016
The total number of venture-backed deals to fintech companies in South East Asia (i.e. Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) reached record highs in 2016 according to data released by CB Insights recently.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
-
Smartphones are making Kenya’s gambling problem even worse
Smartphones have been hailed in Africa for everything from improving emergency and rural health care to enabling e-commerce and better supply chains. But in some cases, their contribution to improving society may be debatable.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- fintech
-
Economy & Nation Defaults rising in MFI loan book post demonetisation
Post demonetisation, the delinquencies in microfinance institutions (MFI) loan books are rising. Ratings agency ICRA recently downgraded its outlook on two prominent MFIs to negative from stable, mainly due to limited currency supply and disruption in borrower cash flows, which hampered overall the collection efficiency of these lenders
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
-
M-Pesa cash ceiling to go up in bid to boost M-Akiba bond
Plans are in the offing to raise the daily mobile money transaction ceiling from the current Sh140,000 to accommodate higher purchases of the M-Akiba product launched on Thursday.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
-
Viewpoint: We Need a Software Revolution for the Greater Social Good
Silicon Valley is well aware of the gap between delivering profits to shareholders and providing social good to the world. It’s that awareness that led to robust corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs, steep nonprofit discounts on otherwise expensive software, Salesforce’s 1/1/1 model and many software billionaires committing their fortunes to social efforts through the Giving Pledge. These efforts have been a boon to the social sector.
- Categories
- Technology
-
Social Business Roundup: The Problem with Sachets, the Beauty of Rats and the Dark Side of Cross-Selling
Everyone seems to love the products in individually-sized sachets being sold at the BoP ... except for Mother Nature. Ethiopia's only too happy to roll out the welcome mat for some rats with amazing TB-sniffing skills. A questionable cross-selling strategy in South Africa harms a vulnerable population and raises uncomfortable questions about financial inclusion. It's all part of our weekly Social Business Roundup.
- Categories
- Environment, Health Care, Social Enterprise, Technology
-
Engineering Social Impact: Being a Hardware Entrepreneur is Hard … But Worth It
There's nothing fast or easy about hardware innovation. Hardware is, well, hard. But a growing number of stakeholders in the development space see the importance of hardware-led social ventures and the impact they make in emerging markets, and they'll be especially interested in ASME's upcoming Innovation Showcase, a competition with events in in India, Kenya and the United States.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise, Technology
-
Starbucks Debuts Mobile App In India
To many, it was a disturbing notion: why was Starbucks taking so long to bring its wildly successful mobile app to its fastest-growing market, India? Almost every day that went by made people only wonder more just what was going on. New word says that it’s finally landing, though, and bringing with it many of the same features that made the original great.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
Subscribe to Our Weekly Newsletter, "NextBillion Notes"
Published each Wednesday, our e-newsletter features NextBillion's latest original articles, along with a selection of news, jobs, bizdev opportunities and events from our recent coverage — and regular conference ticket giveaways.
We respect your privacy. Your information is safe and will never be shared.
Don't miss out. Subscribe today.