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Patient views highlight potential for Peek smartphone suite to transform eye health
An estimated 285 million people worldwide are visually impaired, of whom 39 million are blind. Up to 80% of blindness and visual impairment is avoidable but a lack of trained specialists and the high cost of buying and transporting the right equipment is a major challenge. This is especially true in rural areas and in the low-income nations of Africa and Asia that share the largest proportion of the burden.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Viewpoint: Don’t Let Facebook Likes Sway Credit Decisions
What if you had to choose between keeping your Facebook friends and getting a home equity line of credit? What if your student loans could not be refinanced until you cut certain relatives out of your digital life?
- Categories
- Technology
- Tags
- fintech
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IFC and MasterCard to partner to broaden use of electronic payments by micro, small and medium enterprises
Universal financial access cannot be achieved by simply providing individuals a transaction account. Micro, small and medium Small Businessbusinesses—with whom most of the unbanked transact on a day to day basis—must be able to accept electronic payments.
- Categories
- Technology
- Tags
- digital payments
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Safaricom rejects Kenyan regulator’s request for free access to taxpayers’ M-Pesa accounts
Safaricom said it will not give the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) customer data unless laws touching on confidentiality are changed to allow the mining of such information. The KRA is seeking to gain unrestricted access to taxpayers’ bank and mobile money accounts as part of the efforts to catch tax cheats and improve revenue collection as its targets continue to rise.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Zimbabwe introduces electronic Point of Sale terminals at all public institutions – but leaves out mobile money
This is expected to ease the challenges being faced with the current cash crisis that has gripped the country. It also follows the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s announcement on the reduction of bank charges that have lowered the cost of POS transactions to between 10 cents and 45 cents per transaction.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Caricoin launches bitcoin mobile wallet for Caribbean users
Talking about the new launch of first of its kind app in the Caribbean, Karsten Becker, CEO, Caricoin told in the press release that, “Much in the way email changed the world by making communication fast and cheap, bitcoin is changing the world of digital finance and reshaping how we perceive, manage and store our money.”
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Latin America
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Mark Zuckerberg’s foundation is investing millions in a company that trains coders in Africa
Andela, the Lagos-based company that trains and deploys software developers, is closing a $24 million Series B round—with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), founded by Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, leading the round.'
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Viewpoint: India’s fintech revolution is primed to put banks out of business
Infosys founder Nandan Nilekani calls it India’s “WhatsApp Moment,” echoing how a simple software solution from Silicon Valley turned the Asian telecommunications industry upside down, making obsolete decades of infrastructure,business models and loyal customer relationships with massive telecom operators.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- fintech
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