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Barclays Bank’s Kenya Lab Targets Financial Solution Developers
Barclays has opened the Barclays Kenya Product Lab in Nairobi, an agile product development program that will give local developers access to a pool of resources to come up with solutions that could potentially change the future of the financial industry.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Unequal Access to Healthcare in Sri Lanka?
In the last two decades, there has been a steady erosion of the provision of free health care by a quickly spreading private health system. Middle class families are paying out-of-pocket or becoming dependent on health insurance schemes, while poorer families are being forced to access private health care in life and death matters.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- South Asia
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Modi in US: Major Announcements for Digital India
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Silicon Valley has also come with some major announcements like Wi-Fi in railways stations and broadband connectivity in villages.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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East African Community Members Move to Tame Mobile Money Fraud
East African nations are working to reach a common SIM card registration framework to help tame crime that is perpetrated using mobile phones.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Viewpoint: Racing to Save Lives
Every day in India, people are going blind, not getting tumours detected, living with treatable chronic pain, not developing their brain cells, losing limbs, and dying while the solutions are stuck in the labs of some of India’s brightest inventors. These challenges are not unique to India, but the magnitude of potential lives to improve or save is. Innovation needs to accelerate, and the pathway from labs to patients needs to be shorter and easier.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- South Asia
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Partnership Aims to Bolster Local Health Care Providers
Supported by one of the world’s leading philanthropies, a new partnership was announced Saturday during a United Nations development meeting aimed at improving health in poor and middle-income countries by helping to strengthen their primary care providers.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Tags
- philanthropy
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Kiva Winding Down Kenyan Operations of Peer-to-Peer Microfinance Lending Platform Kiva Zip
Kiva, a US-based microfinance intermediary, recently announced that it is winding down its peer-to-peer microfinance lending platform Kiva Zip in Kenya. Since its inception in 2012, Kiva Zip has enabled users to lend directly to microentrepreneurs in Kenya and the US. Loans in Kenya are distributed through M-Pesa, a mobile money transfer service. Most of Kiva’s loans differ from those through Kiva Zip in that they are intermediated by microfinance institutions. As of 2015, Kiva Zip had received deposits from approximately 8,000 direct lenders and disbursed the equivalent of USD 1.8 million in local currency to approximately 6,500 borrowers in Kenya. As of the same date, Kiva Zip reported a repayment rate of 91 percent [1].
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- lending, microfinance
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Millions of UK Pensions Exposed to ‘High-Risk’ Fossil Fuel Investments
Council pension funds in Britain have invested £14 billion in the fossil fuel sector, despite the fact these assets risk tumbling in value as the world grapples with climate change.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
- Region
- Europe & Eurasia
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