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No more empty stocks: Contraceptives reach rural women thanks to pioneering logistics system
“It is free - no need to pay. Better still, I am also told that from now on I can get it regularly in my home when the mobile health team visits my village. We can now start family planning. It is very good for us”, says Nan Aye Aye Lwin.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Japan vows to ramp up efforts to export renewable energy technology
Emphasizing that energy demand will only grow in China and Southeast Asia, Kishida noted in a message read to a symposium hosted by the ministry in Tokyo that "Japan's environmental technologies will greatly contribute to Asian nations' (transition)."
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
- Tags
- renewable energy
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World’s First Social Sustainability Bond Listed on a Stock Exchange
The US$8 million bond provides loans to social enterprises and microfinance institutions, which, in turn, aim to help more than 385,000 women in Cambodia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Renewable energy firm feted for providing solar-powered ‘sari-sari’ stores in nation’s rural areas
The company, a winner of the Impact Hub Fellowship (Incubation) program in April, helps and trains communities with limited resources of potable and viable water via solar-power pumps, precipitation devices and rainwater harvest.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
- Region
- Asia Pacific
- Tags
- renewable energy, solar
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Smartphones: Under pressure from Chinese companies, Panasonic to exit low-end phones segment
Japan's Panasonic Corp, about a century-old powerhouse in consumer electronics, wouldn't sell feature-and entry-level smartphones in India any longer because of the intense competition from Chinese brands. In a strategy overhaul, Panasonic would also bring the distribution responsibility in-house, and pare down the market-share targets to about 5% in two years from initial projections running into two digits.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Thailand’s Largest Bank Launches $30 Million FinTech Fund ‘Beacon’
As Thailand’s largest bank by revenue, Kasikorn’s foray to back and invest in FinTech startups underlines the growing appetite for digital banking in the country. Between April and September 2016, the Bank of Thailand – the country’s central bank – revealed a marked 26% uptick in commercial mobile and internet banking transactions.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
- Tags
- fintech
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Asia catches the sustainable investment bug… at last
Asia ex-Japan has been a latecomer to the trend, accounting for just 0.2% of global socially responsible investment (SRI) assets. SRI assets in the region still increased 15.7% from 2014 though and investors are counting on a lot more to come.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Asia Pacific
- Tags
- impact investing
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Naspers pours $5M into Coins, a fintech startup for Southeast Asia’s unbanked population
Coins is focused on offering financial services for the unbanked in the Philippines and Thailand. It uses the blockchain as its underlying technology to facilitate transfers and remittances. It announced the new funding — which comes via the Naspers Ventures division — as an extension to the $5 million Series A round that it closed last October.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech
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