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Tugende secures $780K to fill Uganda’s roads with motorcycle taxi drivers
With an interesting take on making profit through social good, affordable motorcycle startup Tugendehas announced that it’s closed a round of US$780 000.The Ugandan-based company describes itself as a for-profit social enterprise that offers an affordable lease-to-own model to help motorcycle taxi drivers own bikes in 18 months or less. The business model seems pretty sleek and has in 2014 grew 300% to over 700 active customers.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- transportation
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Orange and Ecobank form African m-banking partnership
Orange has struck a deal with Ecobank that will enable customers in several African countries to transfer money between accounts with the telco and financial services group through their mobile phones.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Here’s where Africa’s payments revolution should be happening today
In emerging markets, mobile money services have the power to simplify lives, offering people the convenience of paying from anywhere and at any time, but also to transform them, playing a social noble role by addressing the unbanked or underserved population in Africa, offering them payment services they did not have access to before.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Dubai’s Dumyé Named in World’s Best Social Enterprises
A Dubai-based Arab-American designer turned social entrepreneur has won a chance to compete for a share of a $1 million fund and represent the region at a global finals for social entrepreneurs in San Francisco.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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Will JOBS Act Equity Crowdfunding Ever Happen?
On April 5, 2012, a revolutionary avenue of capital formation for small businesses was created when President Obama signed The JOBS Act into law and equity crowdfunding in the United States was born. Entrepreneurs with small businesses were excited by the prospect of using online crowdfunding to raise up to $1 million by selling equity in their company, something not allowed on rewards-based crowdfunding sites Kickstarter or Indiegogo. When the JOBS Act was passed, the new law gave the Securities and Exchange Commission until January 1, 2013 to publish regulations and rules that would allow this game-changing law to go into effect.
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- Uncategorized
- Tags
- crowdfunding
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Mastercard Opens Tech Hub and Preps for Masterpass in India
MasterCard has opened its largest Tech Hub outside of the U.S. in Pune, India, and plans to roll out its mobile payments system in April, the card brand said on Wednesday (Feb. 4).
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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IDB to support BoP families in the Dominican Republic with access to credit for home improvements
Loan of up to $5 million has mobilized an additional $5 million through a B-loan syndication.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Latin America
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Ethiopia Launches Mobile Money Schemes to Extend Banking Reach
Ethiopian banks and microfinance firms are launching mobile money services, helping reach swathes of the population that now have little access to branches or services, the mobile technology providers and banks said.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- digital payments
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