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ANALYSIS: Bitcoin vs. M-Pesa: Digital payments innovators battle in Kenya
On 14 December, a high court in Kenya will come to a preliminary decision in a battle between Bitcoin remittance and payments company BitPesa, which is suing Safaricom, the telecom company which operates M-Pesa. Also suing is Lipisha, the payment company that gateways BitPesa and M-Pesa. There's plenty of irony to go round here. Bitcoin and M-Pesa should not be pitted against one another - both are elements of a payments revolution that is happening right now and which will be remembered as one of the great technology success stories of the 21st century.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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OPINION: The Impact Investing Illusion
For many who have been working in the social enterprise space for a long time, nothing has been quite so startling as the recent lightning fast acceleration of the so-called "impact" investing movement. In the U.S., much of the traction for the movement has been supplied by the rise of new "hybrid" legal forms such as the Benefit Corporation and the L3C, and the spread of the B Corp brand.
Some view these developments as the long-awaited key to scaling solutions to the world's most intractable problems. I'm not so sure about that. In fact, I'm worried as hell. Let me tell you why.- Categories
- Investing
- Tags
- impact investing
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Pope Francis Fears Mosquitoes More Than Terrorists in Africa
Pope Francis is on a six-day tour of Africa, which Western media rushed to dub the riskiest of his papacy so far.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- climate change
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Mercy Corps, MasterCard Foundation Launch Program to Boost Access to Financial, Informational Services for Smallholder Farmers in Kenya
New AgriFin Accelerate initiative to address barriers to access and use of financial services, especially for young women and youth.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Vaccine Deals a Blow to Meningitis A in Africa
A conjugate vaccine has led to control and near total elimination of meningitis A disease in Africa, according to studies.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- vaccines
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Zimbabwe’s Econet Kick-Starts m-Commerce Platform
Econet Wireless has launched an e-commerce platform, OWNAI aimed at helping small scale and medium companies to market their products and services to mobile subscribers on its network.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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World Bank Launches $500M Carbon Market Scheme
The World Bank on Monday launched a $500 million market-based scheme designed to help developing countries pay for emission reductions and combat climate change.
- Categories
- Environment, Health Care
- Tags
- climate change
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Kenyan High Court Hears BitPesa Case Against Safaricom
A lawsuit filed by bitcoin payments startup BitPesa and its partner against mobile money giant Safaricom was heard in the Kenyan High Court on Tuesday.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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