-
Kenya’s Mobile Money Use Swells to a Record $50,000 per Minute, $26.1 Billion Annually in 2014
Kenya's 2014 mobile money use surged to a record 26.1 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of about 4 billion dollars from previous year.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
-
Nandan Nilekani Plans Tech Project ‘Ek Step’ to Hone Children’s Basic Skills
Infosys co-founder and billionaire Nandan Nilekani, who spearheaded the country's massive unique identification project, is gearing up for an equally ambitious project - to help elementary school children across the country improve their reading and arithmetic skills using low-end tablets and smartphones.
- Categories
- Education, Technology
- Region
- South Asia
-
DAI, Souktel, and MFO Launch Mobile Financial Education Services with Facebook’s Internet.org
In low-income countries, good information about personal budgeting and saving is hard to find. Many people have limited schooling and little familiarity with financial institutions. Financial education efforts at the local level—often constrained by inadequate staff resources and transportation challenges—tend to be one-time events accessible only to a small slice of the population. Getting the information you need at the moment you need it is nearly impossible.
- Categories
- Education, Technology
-
This App Wants You to Borrow Money From Friends, Not Banks
Long ago, your parents probably gave you some advice: never borrow money from a friend. More importantly: never let your friends borrow from you. If the movies have taught us anything, it’s that mixing money and friendship rarely ends in anything other than blood and tears.
- Categories
- Technology
- Tags
- lending
-
Another Inconvenient Truth: Vice Pays
The politically correct and socially sustainable is, though certainly laudable, not particularly profitable. Investors shunning sin stocks manage portfolios that are, on average, significantly less profitable than those possessed by shareholders without similar scruples.
- Categories
- Technology
-
Investing in Airtime: How an unlikely financial innovation is promoting economic security for girls in South Africa
Only 37 percent of women In the developing world have bank accounts, yet research has shown that poor women are inherent savers. Stellar has created an open source payments platform that’s being used to provide a mobile wallet in South Africa focused on promoting savings among girls. The wallet has a unique feature: along with cash deposits, it lets users deposit mobile airtime, and withdraw it later as cash.
- Categories
- Technology
-
January’s Most Viewed, Most Shared Posts: Forward progress in inclusion – from finance to the crowd
January’s most-read and most-shared posts on NextBillion took a decidedly forward-looking posture to financial access. And why not? It’s the start of a new year and we have several reasons to be excited for 2015.
- Categories
- Technology
- Tags
- savings
-
Going Mobile in Sub-Saharan Africa to Save Lives – And Change The Future
Mobile technology is rapidly transforming communications and culture in Africa. More than half the continent’s population has a mobile device, up from just one percent in 15 years, according the United Nations. Of course, cities and developed regions are as connected as their counterpart elsewhere, but remote and undeveloped areas where people live on little more than a dollar a day are usually poorly served. That is beginning to change, and healthcare providers are using technology to improve and save lives.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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.