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MasterCard funding Grameen Foundation initiative to bring financial services to the unbanked in Kenya
MasterCard is funding a Grameen Foundation initiative to bring financial services to the poor and the unbanked in Kenya.
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Postal bank test awaits new government in India
he high profile spat between the Reserve Bank of India and the finance ministry over converting India’s loss-making 1.54 lakh post offices under India Post into a bank is likely to be one of the challenging issues that the next government will have to handle.
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Why investors are pouring millions into crowdfunding
There is no shortage of evidence testifying to the value of crowdfunding for those seeking to finance a new product idea, company, or even personal need. Just this month, Kickstarter-born Oculus VR was snatched up by Facebook for $2 billion. Smartwatch-maker Pebble sold more than 400,000 of its crowdfunded smartwatches last year. And in March, Kickstarter surpassed $1 billion in pledges made.
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- crowdfunding
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Facebook faces multiple barriers to success in mobile payments
Facebook is a digital landscape filled with memes, selfies and cat pictures. The social media behemoth does not conjure up visions of a vibrant payments ecosystem, though, especially with its past failures. But that might be about to change.
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Rehabilitation and attack: microcredit helps the poor after all
FOR years the reputation of microfinance—which gives tiny loans to the poorest—rose and fell in tandem with relations between Grameen Bank and the Bangladeshi government. In 2006 the bank and its head, Muhammad Yunus, won the Nobel peace prize for reducing poverty and Mr Yunus toyed with setting up a political party, supposedly with the government’s blessing. Since then several studies have found limited or no benefits from microfinance, and in 2011 (for different reasons) a new government forced Mr Yunus to resign from the bank he had founded.
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OPINION: Managing Finances Well is Key to Africa’s Success
More than ever, African governments need to make the region attractive to investors to shore up the growth path the continent has embarked upon.
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- Sub-Saharan Africa
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March’s Most-Popular Posts on NextBillion
Three posts, each advocating constructive and concrete steps for expanding the umbrella of financial inclusion to even more people, were the most-read articles on NextBillion in March.
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Why Is Financial Inclusion in India Not Improving?: New numbers, new approaches
In the past five years, the Reserve Bank of India has worked harder than many central banks in developing countries to bring financial inclusion to the BoP. Nevertheless, recent reports show that full financial inclusion is not happening, and is probably not even progressing by most important metrics. MicroSave’s Ritesh Dhawan explores why this is the case, and how things might improve.
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