-
Weekly Roundup – 12/14/13: LeapFrog Investments’ sale of microinsurer to Prudential might one of biggest exits in impact investing
Impact investor LeapFrog Investments announced this week that it had sold its equity stake in Ghanaian insurer Express Life to Prudential PLC, one of the world’s biggest insurance companies. Express Life sells micro-insurance and savings products to 730,000 mostly first-time buyers. For investors seeking a high-potential and highly scalable company that sells affordable goods and services to low-income people, this deal is one to bookmark.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Tags
- impact investing
-
Is Bitcoin’s Newest Competitor JPMorgan Chase?
JPMorgan Chase made waves today with the filing — or re-filing — of a patent application for a payments platform that includes “virtual cash.”
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
How SME financial access in Africa compares to other developing economies
Africa is the world’s second fastest growing region after Asia, and has seen increasing interest from foreign and African investors. However, access to finance is – in general – still a major limitation for many African small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Fighting Poverty with Unconditional Cash
Rather than building schools and clinics, or donating solar lights and cows, is the best way to fight global poverty simply to give poor people money? That’s the question a group of smart economists are testing, and their answers could stand the multi-billion dollar aid industry on its head.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Big banks see rich opportunities in world’s poorest
When the Afghan government used mobile phones instead of cash to pay some of its policemen, the officers thought they'd just had a 30 percent pay rise. In truth, they had just been paid the full amount, with nothing skimmed off by middlemen, for the first time.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Why Mobile Wallets Won’t Work in India… Yet: The need is there, but obstacles remain
India has more competing mobile network operators than any other country, and it’s one of the largest and fastest growing mobile markets in the world. It’s also one of the most problematic countries for financial inclusion, with half the population lacking access to formal banking services. Mobile banking seems like an obvious solution, but as Ritesh Dhawan of MicroSave explains, implementing that solution is not so simple.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Mobile Banking Moves Ahead in Nigeria
As a result of the innovation in the Nigerian payment system, mobile phones have rapidly become a major medium for banking and payment for transactions, writes Nume Horsfall.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
-
Kenya making progress in fighting financial crimes
Jackson Kitili, interim director of Kenya’s Financial Reporting Centre, a specialised government agency set up in October 2012 to deal with money laundering and other financial crimes, talks about progress in fighting financial crimes.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
Subscribe to Our Weekly Newsletter, "NextBillion Notes"
Published each Wednesday, our e-newsletter features NextBillion's latest original articles, along with a selection of news, jobs, bizdev opportunities and events from our recent coverage — and regular conference ticket giveaways.
We respect your privacy. Your information is safe and will never be shared.
Don't miss out. Subscribe today.