-
Financial inclusion gap: Some progress, but wide disparities remain
Despite increased attention on the need to bridge the global financial inclusion gap, much of the adult population in the developing world still does not have bank accounts. Many do not have convenient access to traditional financial services either. But the gap is decreasing, a recently released report on financial inclusion finds.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Microfinance sector being gender biased?
Women represent 59 percent of the total microfinance borrowers in Pakistan, says a World Bank report titled "Are Pakistani women being served by the Microfinance Sector". This share is seemingly an impressive proportion for a male dominated society like Pakistan. Now take a step back and look beyond the numbers. Around 50-70 percent of the micro-loans drawn by women are passed on to male members of their family.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- microfinance
-
Entrepreneurship a way out of poverty in Guatemala
Javier Villatoro grew up without a mom and dad in Guatemala City. He dropped out of school in his late teens to learn to cut Guatemalan jade and other precious stones and to work silver with Argentinean jewelers.He used his earnings to buy drugs, alcohol and snuff. He struggled with thoughts of suicide.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Latin America
-
Banks and social enterprise
Last week, the Cooperative Bank launched the Social Enterprise Directplus account. It's specifically for community interest companies (CICs) set up with social or environmental value as their primary goal and offers a number of free banking facilities.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Uganda: Social Business Will Help Defeat Poverty
On July 11, 2013, Sulaiman Madada, the state minister for the Elderly and Disabled, launched the beginning of what might be one of the best things to have happened to Uganda: a social business.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
-
Abhijit Ray: ‘There is a yawning gap in early stage impact investing in India’
Five days ago, India’s largest angel investing group, the Indian Angel Network, started a fund focused solely on socially relevant enterprises, with its first investment in Gram Vaani, a community radio enterprise based out of Delhi. Last year, about $151 million (about Rs 902 crore) was invested in social ventures across India, marking the rise of serious interest in the space of social investment, both from mainstream and sector investors.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- impact investing
-
Will Impact Investing Take Off?
I live on airplanes – typically hopping from one impact investing conference to another. So, if you will forgive the aviation analogy, I believe the impact investing sector is clearly moving down the runway.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
An Impact Investing Milestone: The London Principles
The Impact Investing Policy Collaborative (IIPC) London Principles -- a critical piece of market infrastructure -- have just been launched at an international conference in the UK.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Tags
- impact investing
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.