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World Bank president to open 2013 Microcredit Summit
World Bank president Jim Yong Kim will open the 2013 Microcredit Summit: Partnerships against Poverty on October 9 with a recorded statement urging the nearly 800 delegates from 69 countries to commit themselves to the advancement of microfinance to end extreme poverty.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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MPesa And GCash: Can ‘Lean Regulation’ Be A Gamechanger for Financial Innovation?
The Lean Startup Approach emphasizes scientific experimentation, validated learning, iterative product design, and frequent product releases to gain customer feedback so that entrepreneurs can innovate on observed – rather than on pre-supposed – customer needs. Chris Bishko and Pearl Chan term this trend “Lean Regulation” where regulation is iteratively layered in as the market develops.
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Mobile Payment Startups Face Reluctant Indian Consumers
India has 554 million active cellphone users, yet only four percent use mobile banking. Still, the number of people who are weaning themselves off cash payments is steadily rising.
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- Uncategorized
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New blow for microlenders in South Africa
GRAMEEN bank founder Muhammad Yunus, widely considered the father of modern microcredit, issued a stern warning on Friday about how microlending could become “abusive” and be misused by lenders.
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Financial inclusion: India too may learn from US weather insurance firm ClimateCorp’s model
ClimateCorp is actually a very interesting company which straddles an intersection between technology and retail financial services in an innovative way. Moreover, its approach holds an important lesson for us in India. ClimateCorp is a provider of weather insurance. However, it does so in a retail, online, productised and data-driven way.
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- Agriculture
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ADB clears $700 mn loan for Indian infrastructure development
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved $700 million in loans to support the Indian government's efforts to accelerate investment in infrastructure which the country requires to ensure strong economic growth.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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- infrastructure, lending
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Colombia to improve capital city’s public transport system with IDB loan
Colombia will improve its public transportation system in Bogota with a $40 million loan approved by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), making its hallmark bus system better as well as cleaner.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Latin America
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- infrastructure, lending
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India’s Banks not Inclusive Enough
Are commercial banking (as it is currently practiced in India) and attainment of financial inclusion mutually exclusive?
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia