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The Rural Credit Rush in India
Data released by Microfinance Institutions Network, a national body for non-banking finance company-micro finance institutions (NBFC-MFIs), shows that NBFC-MFIs, which focus on lending in rural India, account for the largest chunk of the loan portfolio of the microfinance industry.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- South Asia
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Yellow Door Energy Raises $65M for C&I Solar in the Middle East and Africa
The funding injects capital into commercial-scale solar, which has languished in the region as massive auction-based projects boom.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
- Tags
- renewable energy
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Is North Korea Moving Toward a Cashless Society?
According to a Seoul-based online newspaper Daily NK, some North Korean people are apparently using mobile phone credits as currency and a means of commercial transaction.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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The Rise Fund Spin-Off Marks Growth of Impact Investing
“A lot of what happens with impact investing and philanthropy is people measure afterward,” says Chris Addy, a partner at Bridgespan. The IMM is a metric “to quantitatively account for” social or environmental impact before an investment is made, he says, “with a goal being, you can actually look at hard numbers.”
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
- Tags
- ESG, impact investing
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Ugandans continue to boycott OTT tax, transact less mobile money
Regarding mobile money transactions, while the amount of money deposited in digital wallets has grown, people have reduced on the number of transactions they make.
- Categories
- Finance, Telecommunications
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Fintech leaders debate the future of crypto at Davos
While programs like bitcoin likely won’t be taken up by large governments or financial organizations, there are other applications for blockchain that could prove worthy.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Tags
- blockchain, cryptocurrency, fintech
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Viewpoint: Misaligned Hiring Priorities Risk Taking The Impact Out Of Impact Investing
There is a risk, however, that the ‘impact’ part of impact investing becomes diluted if the teams behind these funds - whether launched by corporates or established venture investment firms - lack the necessary expertise in creating social change. This is a very real possibility - in researching the hiring preferences of impact investment funds to help students identify routes to careers in the sector, my Stanford GSB colleague Bernadette Clavier and I found that hiring managers don’t value expertise and experience in social change as highly as they should in their decision-making.
- Categories
- Investing
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Viewpoint: No, Pakistani ‘startups’ did not raise over $300 million in investments in 2018
A Pakistani tech publication published an article recently, claiming that Pakistani startups raised $341 million in 2018. This article was shared by many in the Pakistani startup ecosystem. The article was perhaps seen as an acknowledgment of the fact that the technological ecosystem in Pakistan has come a long way and is finally attracting venture capital (VC) money. This might very well be true. But the claim that Pakistani startups raised over $300 million last year is a stretch.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- startups
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