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Insurance in Africa: The threat of tech
No insurer wants to see new innovators encroaching on their territory. To outflank them, some are working with these fintech companies to help pursue their own technological projects, reach the continent’s large uninsured populations, develop new products and cut costs.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Merck picks 3 e-health startups for Nairobi accelerator
Global healthcare and pharmaceutical firm Merck has chosen one Ghanaian startup and two from the United States (US) to take part in the third edition of its e-health accelerator in Nairobi, Kenya.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Fintech Deals in South East Asia Hit Record Numbers in 2016
The total number of venture-backed deals to fintech companies in South East Asia (i.e. Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) reached record highs in 2016 according to data released by CB Insights recently.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Smartphones are making Kenya’s gambling problem even worse
Smartphones have been hailed in Africa for everything from improving emergency and rural health care to enabling e-commerce and better supply chains. But in some cases, their contribution to improving society may be debatable.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- fintech
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Economy & Nation Defaults rising in MFI loan book post demonetisation
Post demonetisation, the delinquencies in microfinance institutions (MFI) loan books are rising. Ratings agency ICRA recently downgraded its outlook on two prominent MFIs to negative from stable, mainly due to limited currency supply and disruption in borrower cash flows, which hampered overall the collection efficiency of these lenders
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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M-Pesa cash ceiling to go up in bid to boost M-Akiba bond
Plans are in the offing to raise the daily mobile money transaction ceiling from the current Sh140,000 to accommodate higher purchases of the M-Akiba product launched on Thursday.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Viewpoint: We Need a Software Revolution for the Greater Social Good
Silicon Valley is well aware of the gap between delivering profits to shareholders and providing social good to the world. It’s that awareness that led to robust corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs, steep nonprofit discounts on otherwise expensive software, Salesforce’s 1/1/1 model and many software billionaires committing their fortunes to social efforts through the Giving Pledge. These efforts have been a boon to the social sector.
- Categories
- Technology
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Starbucks Debuts Mobile App In India
To many, it was a disturbing notion: why was Starbucks taking so long to bring its wildly successful mobile app to its fastest-growing market, India? Almost every day that went by made people only wonder more just what was going on. New word says that it’s finally landing, though, and bringing with it many of the same features that made the original great.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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