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The Female Factor: Why enrolling more women as mobile money agents can benefit service providers, customers – and the agents themselves
Research has shown that enrolling more female mobile money agents can improve customer service and increase public trust in bank products and brands. It also provides these women with a valuable source of income. That’s why the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women has partnered with FirstBank of Nigeria and the Youth for Technology Foundation to train 2,500 Nigerian women entrepreneurs as Firstmonie agents.
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How a Skincare Company Is Creating Jobs in Africa and Ending the “Thatchwork Ceiling”
On a drive down the Pacific coast from San Francisco at the height of the first tech bubble, Magatte Wade had a sudden epiphany. She had a successful career, but she couldn't stop thinking about friends and family struggling to find work back in Senegal, where she'd grown up.
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- Sub-Saharan Africa
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- crowdfunding
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Opinion: Stop Calling Everything ‘Social Entrepreneurship’
The term “disruptive innovation” is thrown around a lot these days. From AirBnb to Uber, everyone seems to be disrupting something, and the phrase has permeated the lexicon of start-up and blue-chip companies alike. I admit, I’m guilty as well.
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New IFC Report Examines Challenges to Microfinance in the Arab World
A new study from IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, has found that external risks, security concerns, and over-indebtedness are perceived as the most serious challenges facing the microfinance sector in the Arab World.
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- North Africa & Near East
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‘Seeing People for Who They Are, Not What They Can Prove on Paper’
Shubham, which is focused on helping urban, lower-income families in India own a home through financing, lays out some of the problems it has encountered and issues it foresees in the informal home loan segment.
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Survey: Cash and Mobile Money Transactions Rise as Zimbabweans Shun Banking Sector
More than 80 percent of local transactions happen in cash as Zimbabweans continue to shun the formal banking process while more than 25 percent of bank accounts are dormant. According to a new survey titled “Making Access Possible (MAP) Diagnostic” conducted in Zimbabwe mobile money subscriptions grew by over 100 percent in the last two years as they are more preferred than banks for transactions.
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- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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IFC Lends P700 Million to Two Philippines Financial Institutions for MSME Financing
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) will provide a seven-year loan to CARD Bank, Inc. and CARD SME Bank, Inc. to benefit micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), microfinance borrowers, and women in rural areas.
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- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Bill Gates | 2016 Will Be the Year of Financial Inclusion
Bill Gates describes himself as a technologist, business leader, and philanthropist. More recently, he was called the most generous man in the world.
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- South Asia