-
Report: Islamic Finance Will Shoot Up to $6.5 Trillion by 2020
The Global Islamic Financial system is multiplying on a fast track basis, and will touch $6.5 trillion by 2020. This is projected by the International Financial Service Board. The volume expanded from a meager $150 billion in 1990 to $ 1.8 trillion in 2015, the board reported.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
- Tags
- Islamic finance, lending
-
To Reach Millennial Customers, This Kenyan Telecom Giant Tried Shopping Like Them
For the last 16 years Safaricom, Kenya’s largest publicly traded company and East Africa’s largest telecom, has focused on signing up more mobile subscribers. With 87% of Kenya’s population already subscribed to mobile phone plans, Safaricom, partly owned by Britain’s Vodafone—along with its newer rivals such as India’s Bharti Airtel or Orange Kenya, partly owned by France’s Orange SA—are now chasing a smaller slice of the pie.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
-
Madagascar Becomes Second Market in Africa With Mobile Money Interoperability
The GSMA today announced that all three mobile money providers in Madagascar – Airtel Money, mVola and Orange Money – are rolling out interoperable mobile money services across the entire country. This launch makes Madagascar the second market in Africa, following Tanzania, where all mobile money providers are making their services interoperable, allowing transactions to flow seamlessly across all mobile money providers.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
-
Mixed Reactions in Ghana Over Interest Payments on Mobile Money
Customers of mobile money services have expressed mixed reactions to the payments of interests, a day after the process started.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
-
G20 Leaders Welcome Launch of Inclusive Business Platform
Leaders at the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, China emphasized the need for sustainable and inclusive growth, and welcomed the launch of the G20 Global Platform on Inclusive Business. The platform is a global partnership that seeks to accelerate the adoption of inclusive business policies and programs.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Five Imperatives to Help Address the Challenges of Sustainable Rural Economic Development
More than two-thirds of the populations in the least-developed countries live and work in rural areas, where the proportion of people living below the poverty line is generally double that of urban areas. That makes the development of rural economies critical for poor countries to meet their sustainable development goals. Peter Harlock of VisionFund lays out five imperatives to optimise that development.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Weekly Roundup: A Different Kind of Pivot in SE Asia, a Surprising Collaboration in India and South Africa’s Sweet Move
Among the discussion items in this week's Roundup: the bumper crop of social enterprises in Southeast Asia; India's uphill climb toward financial inclusion; some mixed news about microfinance; South Africa takes action against obesity; and Sisu's carefully planned success.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
The Microfinance Business Model: Enduring Subsidy and Modest Profit
Microfinance institutions aim to serve customers ill-served by traditional commercial banks and thus the associated business model is challenging by definition. And yet the industry has achieved impressive scale reaching 211 million customers globally in 2013. Paradoxically, recent evidence suggests that the benefits of microcredit to borrowers may be modest. For example, six prominent randomized controlled trials found small impacts of access to microcredit on the incomes and consumption levels of marginal borrowers, though the studies found some “potentially important” (though modest) impacts on “occupational choice, business scale, consumption choice, female decision power, and improved risk management.” (Banerjee et al., 2015, p. 14).
- Categories
- Uncategorized
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.