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Kenyans Find the Unintended Consequences of Mobile Money
In Western Kenya, “Sambaza” is both a marketing slogan and means for despair. It means “to spread.” Vodafone-owned Safaricom, the dominant mobile provider in Kenya, uses it as a brand name for a service that allows customers to transfer airtime to each other. According to a new study funded by the Institute for Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion (IMFTI), the word has also come to refer to the way money in a mobile account slips away, drip by drip, as friends and family ask for favors.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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New Report: Bringing Impact Investing From the Margins to the Mainstream
The World Economic Forum, in collaboration with Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, today launched From the Margins to the Mainstream: Assessment of the Impact Investment Sector and Opportunities to Engage Mainstream Investors. The report provides a market assessment and recommendations for how mainstream investors can more actively engage in impact investing.
- Categories
- Education
- Tags
- impact investing, research
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MaRs launches Social Venture Connection, SVX
Socially-minded investors in Ontario who want to make a difference while making a profit have a new financial tool at their fingertips. The MaRs Discovery District’s Social Venture Connection, or SVX, is launching at the Toronto Stock Exchange Thursday.
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- Uncategorized
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- impact investing
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Indonesian farmers need innovative financing to boost productivity
The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin Indonesia) is calling for better access to finance for farmers to help increase their productivity.
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- Agriculture
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Safaricom Cautions Kenya Over Higher Taxes
Kenyan mobile operator, Safaricom, has warned the government that further increases in Excise Tax – a duty levied on goods or services for sale – will make mobile payment services less affordable for poorer citizens.
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- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Editorial: E-banking requires better technology support for operation
Mobile banking is gaining ground among the people of the country since the Bangladesh Bank (BB) formulated a guideline nearly two years ago. Mobile banking grew at a faster pace, proving that it is more useful than the formal banking. Transaction through mobile banking service has been increasing at a rate of 20 per cent every month. Some 7.2 million people now make the use of different services under mobile banking services through more than one lakh outlets across the country.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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Digital payments key to financial inclusion, says Gates report
Digital payments systems are key to providing wider access to financial services, but customers in developing countries may have to pay each time they use them in order for the economics to stack up, according to a new report on financial inclusion from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
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- Uncategorized
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Vikram Akula tries a second coming at SKS Microfinance
Vikram Akula, the poster boy of Indian microfinance who ran into trouble in the company he founded after it was listed, may be eyeing a return to its top post, with a key shareholder backing him.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- microfinance