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Indians Skipping Plastic Money, Leapfrogging to Mobile Wallets
Unlike the West, Japan and China, which slowly graduated from landline to cordless to cellular telephony and from cash to plastic to mobile payments mode, India has virtually skipped the intermediate stages — cordless telephones and plastic money — of this technological revolution and jumped into cellular telephony and digital banking transaction.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech
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Kenya Promises Crackdown As Teachers Push for Ban on UK-Backed Private Schools
Kenya promised on Monday to crack down on schools operating illegally after teachers called for a ban on a chain of low-cost private schools backed by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
- Categories
- Education
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Five west African countries ban ‘dirty diesel’ from Europe
Five west African countries have announced measures to end the practice of European oil companies and traders exporting “African quality” diesel – highly polluting fuels that could never be sold in Europe.
- Categories
- Environment, Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Social Funds Tie Pay to Impact
Plenty of investment professionals have their compensation tied to hitting specific financial targets. But does that metric make sense for increasingly popular socially responsible funds?
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
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The key to fighting the next ‘Ebola’ outbreak is in your pocket
When a toddler called Emile Ouamouno, in the village of Meliandou in Guinea, died from Ebola in December 2013, it took three months for the rest of the world to know about it and a further six months to act. The result was an epidemic that killed 11,000 people across West Africa.
- Categories
- Health Care
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Meet the people adding $3.7 trillion to the developing world with financial inclusion
Delivering financial services to the developing world's unbanked people will add $3.7 trillion to the GDP of emerging economies within a decade, according to a recent report by McKinsey.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
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Yellow Fever Epidemic in Africa Shows Gaps in Vaccine Pipeline
The yellow fever outbreak in Africa this year came closer to being a disaster than is widely recognized, public health experts recently disclosed. The epidemic also revealed glaring weaknesses in the emergency vaccine supply pipeline.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Where Do Microfinance Firms Go From Here?
If you have your ear to the ground, you may hear 1.2 million employees of the Indian microfinance industry singing an old song of country-and-western singer and songwriter Jim Reeves:
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- microfinance
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