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Weekly Roundup – The Pope Pulls No Punches: Controversial encyclical puts spotlight on BoP and reboots debate
Pope Francis touched a nerve with the encyclical that he issued Thursday. More importantly, he shined a light on economic inequality. And, as one of the world’s most powerful people, it’s an incredibly bright spotlight.
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Rwanda: MTN, Western Union Sign Mobile Money Transfer Deal
It will now be easy for Rwandans living abroad to send money to their relatives back home following the launch of a new mobile money transfer service by MTN Rwanda and Western Union, a global money transfer service firm.
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- Uncategorized
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- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Women in business: Can P2P lending bridge gender gap in access to capital in India?
For a country like India where there is a distinct buzz around startups and entrepreneurship, the number of women entrepreneurs and women in business still continue to be far and few.
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- South Asia
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- lending
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Social Media, Messaging Apps Driving Global Mobile Money Adoption
It’s hardly news that mobile is important to emerging economies. Stories of those countries lepfrogging older technologies have been told so many times that they can sometimes seem tired. But when you stop and think about it, even the rise of mobile money and marketing in these markets has been nothing short of remarkable. For instance, the latest report from global trade body Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF), shows that 69% of mobile media users globally carried out a banking activity via mobile in 2015, up three percent year-on-year. But in Indonesia the figure was 80%, in Nigeria 85% and Kenya an incredible 93%.
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Africa Discovers the Power of Crowdfunding
Budding South African film producer Meg Rickards was struggling to raise the money for her new feature film, Whiplash, when she came across the idea of crowdfunding.
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- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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- crowdfunding
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The Big Advantages of Being Small: How a mobile money startup beat the major players in Zambia
Once called “the best kept secret in Africa,” the digital finance company Zoona has quickly advanced from a scrappy startup to one of the leading mobile money providers in Zambia. Jungwon Byun describes how, despite being outmatched in terms of size and capital, Zoona has outcompeted the telcos and established banks in the country.
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The Real FinTech Capitals of the World
What is the FinTech capital of the world? London? New York? Silicon Valley? It’s actually somewhere in Africa or Asia if you heed the results of this year’s Payments Innovation Jury Report.
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- mobile finance
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Closing the Financial Inclusion Gender Gap
While financial inclusion is growing for everyone, women tend to lag men by seven percentage points globally - in emerging markets, the difference is nine percentage points on average and can be as high as 18 percentage points in South Asia.
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- Uncategorized
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