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Viewpoint: Business Fails the BOP
Businesses have made significant strides in the last 40 years, identifying innovations that make serving the world’s poorest profitable. Single-use packets developed by giants like Proctor and Gamble made fast-moving consumer goods affordable. Mobile technology leapfrogged conventional telecom in Africa, improving connectivity and reach. Capital inflows from micro-financing opened small business opportunities for billions. These innovations, and many others, have enabled multinational corporations to enter emerging economies and create profitable products and services at scale.
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Can Bitcoin Be Used for Good?
Something strange is happening to Bitcoin. Once viewed as a way to do business in the darkest corners of the web, the digital currency has rather suddenly become a favorite talking point among humanitarians and international development enthusiasts.
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Nomanini Integrates With M-Pesa for Merchant Cash-In
South Africa-based enterprise payments platform provider, Nomanini has announced it has integrated with M-Pesa in Mozambique, enabled via its local country partner, Mozambique Mobile Solutions (MMS). The move will allow merchants to use mobile money agents to top up their virtual vending accounts on Nomanini terminals.
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- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Pakistan Unveils First Domestic Payment Gateway
Pakistan on Tuesday unveiled the country’s first domestic payment scheme ‘PayPak’ to facilitate ecommerce and improve financial inclusion.
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- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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VisionFund International and Opportunity International Partner to Expand Financial Inclusion for Unbanked Citizens of Democratic Republic Of Congo
Opportunity International, a next generation microfinance organization that invests philanthropic and social impact capital to spark and scale innovative solutions to global poverty, has entered into a share purchase agreement to sell a majority stake of its microfinance institution in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to VisionFund International, World Vision’s microfinance arm.
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- Press Release
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- microfinance
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India’s Prime Minister Launches ‘Stand Up India’ to Promote Financial Inclusion
Giving a push to government's financial inclusion programme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launched the Stand-up India scheme under which 1.25 lakh bank branches will provide loans up to Rs 1 crore to SC/ST and women entrepreneurs.
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- South Asia
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Seven Essential Guiding Principles to Boost Financial Inclusion Laid Out in New Report
Seven guiding principles to help countries increase financial inclusion were set out in a report released today by the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and the World Bank Group. The Payment aspects of financial inclusion report builds on a document that underwent public consultation in late 2015 and seeks to tackle barriers to the adoption and usage of transaction accounts, which sit at the heart of retail payment services.
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IFC to Lend $150M to Shriram Transport Finance
International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector lending arm of the World Bank, has agreed to invest $150 million in Shriram Transport Finance Company Ltd (STFCL) in the form of senior debt to help the firm provide more finance to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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- lending
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