-
This Idea for Fighting Global Poverty Keeps Getting Hotter, Especially in Silicon Valley
Interest keeps growing among funders in the idea of fighting global poverty by making direct cash transfers to poor households and letting the recipients spend that money as they see fit. And nowhere is this interest stronger than in Silicon Valley, where GiveDirectly—the lead nonprofit promoting cash transfers—has found some powerful allies.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- North America
-
Latest GSMA Report Highlights Success of Mobile Money with over Half a Billion Accounts Worldwide
The GSMA today unveiled its sixth ‘State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money’, offering a current snapshot of the mobile money landscape and highlighting the impact of mobile money on lives, economies and innovation over the past 10 years. The report provides the only comprehensive picture of mobile money around the globe.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Europe & Eurasia
-
Mobile Money Not As Useful As Expected For Banking Poorer, Rural Africans
Kenya’s banks came together this month to launch PesaLink, a new platform that will be integrated into all banks in the country, allowing users to seamlessly send money from one bank to another. The move signifies major new competition for Safaricom’s M-Pesa and other mobile money services, which launched initially to streamline the process of sending money.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
-
Indian City Advances as Fintech Hub as Visa, Reuters Move In
Multinational giants Thomson Reuters and Visa will launch their operations in the south Indian city of Vishakhapatnam next month, as the city gains prominence as a leading financial technology hub in the country. Global data and technology provider Thomson Reuters will join the world’s leading payments network Visa in launching operations in Vishakhapatnam, a coastal Indian city in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
-
Kenya Cabinet Secretary denies claims that government wants to break up Safaricom
The government has allayed reports that it is intending to split leading telecommunication operator in the country, Safaricom. Information, Communication and Technology Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru has insisted that the government’s role is to provide policy guidance and coordination in the sector as opposed to interfering in business operations and investment.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
-
Facebook plans to lay almost 500 miles of fiber cable in Africa for better wireless internet
Facebook has a new plan to get more of Africa online: Fiber optic cables. The social giant on Monday announced plans to lay nearly 500 miles of fiber cable in Uganda by the end of the year, infrastructure that Facebook believes will provide internet access for more than three million people.
- Categories
- Technology, Telecommunications
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
-
Microloan approvals done in 7 minutes, not 7 days in India
Bharat Financial Inclusion, India's second-largest microfinance company, has linked its credit systems to the national database to speed up cheaper financing to those at the margins.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
-
PesaLink is no threat to M-Pesa, says Safaricom
The planned launch of interbank mobile money transfer system next month by commercial banks will not slow down revenues from Safaricom's M-Pesa, chief executive Bob Collymore has said. He says a significant number of close to 25 million customers on its money-minting machine, M-Pesa, will not be swayed by PesaLink because they do not hold conventional bank accounts.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa