-
Digital-payment revenue in sub-Saharan Africa expected to soar
Electronic-payments revenue in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) could reach up to $16 billion annually in the next few years if the growth of mobile payments in Kenya is repeated across the continent, according to a recent study by McKinsey and the Gates Foundation.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Former Avon CEO Andrea Jung takes top spot at microfinance company Grameen America
The former head of Avon is now leading Grameen America, a group that provides small loans to poor women entrepreneurs in the U.S. Andrea Jung was CEO of the beauty products company from 1999 through April 2012 and served as chairman through the end of that year. Considered one of the most powerful women in business, she came under fire for failing to stem Avon's sales declines and left amid an overseas bribery investigation.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Tags
- microfinance
-
New report: Social Impact Bonds could boost development and job creation in South Africa
Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) hold tremendous potential for government to increase effective support for struggling entrepreneurs in South Africa, according to a new report presented to the National Treasury, the Jobs Fund, and the dti.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
-
Making Mobile Money More Effective in Nigeria
A recent survey that showed that 37 per cent of Nigerians are not aware of mobile money and as such, do not use the payment platform, is worrisome. According to the report by Philip Consulting, out of the remaining 63 per cent respondents that knew about mobile money, 31 per cent were between the ages of 26 and 35 and constituted the majority.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Commercial banks in India increasingly targeting low-income borrowers
At a time when microfinance institutions (MFIs) are getting into the banking business, commercial banks too have developed a liking for lending directly to the poor -- an area until now dominated by traditional MFIs and informal lenders.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Capital Commitment to support Early-Stage Businesses in East African Communities
JPMorgan Chase and the UK Department for International Development will kick start promising businesses in East Africa through a new joint investment in Novastar Ventures. The new $5 million investment by JPMorgan Chase will be matched by an additional $15 million from DFID as part of its first ever Impact Investment Fund. Launched in 2013, the fund is managed by the CDC, the UK's own Development Finance Institution.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
The Aspen Institute Announces Second Class of New Voices Fellows
The Aspen Institute announced today the second class of the New Voices Fellowship, a groundbreaking program designed to amplify the voices of experts from the developing world and bring their experiences to discussions of global development. The 2014-2015 fellows come from 12 countries and three continents: Ethiopia, Ghana, Haiti, Indonesia, India, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
C S Ghosh: Tied to the bottom of the pyramid
Chandra Shekhar Ghosh has come a long way - from Tripura to Bangladesh to West Bengal to now the national scene. The microfinance organisation Bandhan, which he founded in 2001 and helped grow, has won the right to become a full-fledged commercial bank that can and will have its branches from Srinagar to Thiruvananthapuram in the not too distant future.
- Categories
- Uncategorized