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Viewpoint: Does Virtual Currency’s Past Dictate Its Future?
After almost 20 years in the payments industry, I've learned to appreciate its history. That's why, with the growing popularity of virtual currency over the past couple years, I decided to do some digging into its past.
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- digital payments
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Nigeria: Cement Firm Partners With Microfinance Bank to Build 5,000 New Homes
A NEW deal has been sealed between a cement firm, Messrs United Cement Company of Nigeria (UNICEM) and microfinance bank for the building of 5,000 new housing units in the country.
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- Uncategorized
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- Sub-Saharan Africa
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- microfinance
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Cash Aid Feeds Business Surge in Northern Kenya
When the government of Kenya began giving cash instead of food aid to poor people in Kenya's drought-stricken northern region, the aim was to help them buy food more efficiently and conveniently.
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- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Uber Begins Testing Cash Payments in India
Uber today announced that it will begin testing a cash payments system in Hyderabad, India, marking a global first for the credit card-based mobile app. In a blog postpublished today, the company described the initiative as an "experiment" in a part of the world where many consumers prefer to pay for services in cash.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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- transportation
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The Field Guide to Human-Centered Design: A new book from IDEO.org is a ‘crib sheet’ for better social innovation
IDEO.org has published The Field Guide to Human-Centered Design, which showcases its 50-plus methods. IDEO.org’s Aaron Britt suggests we think of it as kind of a human-centered design crib sheet for bringing the voices and desires of the people you’re designing for into your work and as a map for iterating your way toward a successful social enterprise.
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- product design
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Financial Inclusion in Africa: “Things Are Further Behind Than People Think”
Plenty of progress has been made on increasing the size of Africa’s banked population. The trouble is, from the amount of noise that is made about the topic, you would be forgiven for thinking we had fixed the problem when we really haven’t.
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- Uncategorized
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- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Bitcoin – The Next Big Thing in Finance (Or Is It?)
Asked to name an event that has reshaped finance in recent years, bankers will point to the collapse of Lehman Brothers on September 15th 2008, the nadir of the financial crisis. Fintech types are more likely to mention something that happened six weeks later. On October 31st 2008 Satoshi Nakamoto, a pseudonymous cryptography buff whose real identity remains a mystery, unveiled a project he dubbed bitcoin, “a new electronic cash system that’s fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party”. It described what appeared to be a robust framework for a currency that could run without the backing of any government. Enthusiasts proclaimed that finance was about to enter the era of crypto-currencies. Since the need for a trusted third party has traditionally been a large part of the banks’ raison d’être, this could mean that in future they will no longer be required—potentially a much more radical change than the other inroads fintech has made on their business.
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Xiaomi’s Money Market Fund Rolls Out of Beta, to Take on Alibaba and Tencent
Like Baidu and Alibaba, Xiaomi is eyeing China’s finance industry and seeing dollar signs. Today the company is officially launching a money-market fund called Huoqibao inside a new standalone app called “Xiaomi Finance.”
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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