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MetLife Foundation & Verb Launch Competition To Accelerate Financial Innovation In Egypt & Lebanon
The competition launches in Egypt & Lebanon this week and will attract participants that have an innovative idea or solution to empower the nearly 50 million Egyptians and Lebanese that manage their day-to-day financial lives without a bank account.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Financial Inclusion
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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U.N. glimpses into blockchain future with eye scan payments for refugees
Iris recognition devices at the checkouts of the camp's supermarket authenticate customers' identities and deduct what they spend from sums they receive as aid from the World Food Program (WFP).
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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The world’s first solar-powered refugee camp
As part of its Brighter Lives for Refugees campaign, the IKEA Foundation began offering solar lamps to residents in Azraq, which became essential for everything from cooking and studying, to safe access to water and sanitation. Yet the lamps, though essential, only illuminated the broader challenge of life without a consistent power grid.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
- Tags
- migration, refugees, renewable energy, solar, solar energy, Syria, UN, UNHCR
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Islamic finance is making a case for ‘impact investment’
The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and the Istanbul International Center for Private Sector in Development of the UN Development Program launched the “Global Islamic Finance and Impact Investing Platform,” an institution which seeks to build collaborations between a multitude of stakeholders, including Islamic banks and Islamic finance institutions, that engage in developmental investments in accordance with the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
- Tags
- IDB, impact investing, Islamic finance, MENA, SDGs, UNDP
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IDB-UNDP report identifies steps to leverage Islamic finance for impact investing
Given that impact investment is growing rapidly and has become an important source of funding the SDGs, a blending with Islamic finance provides a formable partnership that could play a significant role in achieving the SDGs.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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How Dubai Is Turning Into A Smart City ‘Test Bed’ For Global Digital Health Entrepreneurs
With considerable wealth, the country -- and Dubai in particular -- has technologically leapfrogged to implement the most modern healthcare technology available. As the UAE establishes its development agenda and enables a new era for healthcare, it has an opportunity to create a new paradigm to structure the way healthcare is conceived founded on synergies between technology and data, and a commitment to create better patient solutions.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Health Care
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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MFS transaction limits taking toll on SMEs, e-commerce in Bangladesh
An account holder can now make deposits and withdraw amounts twice in a day. Previously, the limit for cash-in was five and for cash-out it was five. On January 11 this year, Bangladesh Bank issued an order to all mobile financial service providers to comply with the revised mobile banking transaction ceiling, citing abuse of the facility by a section of people.
- Categories
- Financial Inclusion, Technology
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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‘Fintech startups in Middle East, North Africa raised $100m last decade’
Fintech startups in the Middle East and North Africa have raised $100-million over the last decade, yet 28% fail in their initial years, says a new report by business support organisation Wamda and online payment gateway Payfort.
- Categories
- Financial Inclusion, Technology
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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