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CFI at Accion, Citi, and Visa Inc. Launch Financial Inclusion 2020 to Accelerate Universal Financial Access
The Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion, together with Citi and Visa Inc., today announced the launch of the Financial Inclusion 2020 campaign (FI2020). FI2020 is focused on the acceleration of financial inclusion by uniting the private sector, governments, NGOs, and other relevant parties to develop and advance a comprehensive strategy to achieve this aim.
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Weekly Roundup 1/27/13: Social Entrepreneurs, Davos and making infrastructure sexy
The rarified air and the elites who occupy it during the World Economic Forum in snowy Davos, Switzerland always receive their fair share of criticism. But anecdotally, there seems to be a noticeable shift in how social entrepreneurs are approaching lasting and sustainable impact, and the mechanism is infrastructure.
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How Islamic finance and a more ethical capitalism go hand-in-hand
Though wealth creation is the primary goal taught by top businessmen, social impact is considered to be a more fulfilling outcome for others. Money is not timeless, but what you do with that money can be. The light you instil in the uneducated, the medicine you provide to the ill, or the food and water you provide to the malnourished is far more enduring than the car you drive or the house you buy. Most advocates of social entrepreneurship believe that creating a business with a social impact leaves much more than just a humble footprint behind.
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News Release: New Client Protection Certification Program Sets the Bar for Microfinance
As of today, the microfinance industry has new client protection standards and a Client Protection Certification Program aimed at retail financial institutions serving the world’s poor. The ambitious effort, created for and by the industry and managed by the Smart Campaign, represents an important milestone in the evolution of microfinance as a uniquely client-focused portion of the global financial sector. “There has been widespread demand for mechanisms that protect microfinance clients. This is the first program that verifies client protection publicly,” said Smart Campaign Managing Director Isabelle Barrès.
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WEF: Africa’s Growth March to Continue in Stride
There is good news from Africa. The continent is witnessing the second fastest economic growth, and according to knowledgeable sources it may grow even faster in 2013. What is more, currently Africa accounts for 14 sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) with a total amount of USD114 billion in 2009, representing 3% of global SWFs, and that share is expected to increase in future with the establishment of new SWFs.
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- Sub-Saharan Africa
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- infrastructure
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New fund from global impact investors
Global impact investors Rockefeller Foundation and Omidyar Network have joined hands with Dasra, a strategic philanthropy foundation, to launch the Impact Investing Forum in India.The forum on Saturday announced the launch of the India Impact Economy Innovations Fund to catalyse collective action and market development in India, a statement said.
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- South Asia
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- impact investing
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Weekly Roundup 1/19/13: A March conference focuses on Marketing to the BoP (A video Q&A with Hystra’s Kayser)
Olivier Kayser is the founder and managing director of Hystra, a for-profit firm that works with business and social sector innovators to design and implement hybrid strategies for businesses and NGOs working at the BoP. Hystra is releasing a new research paper “Marketing for the BoP," which will be the centerpiece of a March conference.
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Controlling the Family Purse Strings, But Not the Cell Phone: mWomen report examines how low-income women can gain mobile money access
The report emphasizes that working with the communication channels used by BoP women could be an effective way of combating unfamiliarity, misconceptions, and inequitable social dynamics.
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