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As remittance market reaches saturation in Myanmar, mobile money keeps growing
If the mobile money market were a football match, then the second half has just begun. As the undisputed market leader, Wave Money is already a few goals ahead. It reports having almost 50,000 agents and more than 11 million customers, who remitted US$2.8 billion between January and September of this year.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- South Asia
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Nigerian ‘unicorn’ Interswitch sells stake to Visa
Visa Inc (V.N) will buy a significant minority stake in Nigerian payments platform Interswitch, creating “an instant acceptance network across Africa” that will help drive expansion, both companies said in a statement on Tuesday.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- South Asia
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Perspective: Bridging the two fuels in an economy: energy and finance
An energy revolution is under way. Globally, renewables-based electricity capacity has seen more investments than fossil fuels in the past three years. Yet, many remain wary of investing in renewable energy particularly in developing countries, which have large untapped potential for both solar and wind energy. These are generally perceived as challenging markets in which to operate, especially by risk-averse investors. So, why do clean energy investments continue to be viewed as risky, despite evident trends pointing to the contrary?
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- South Asia
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The Doctor Will Skype You Now: Virtual Checkups Reach Bangladesh’s Isolated Islands
Now, a new virtual medical service called Teledaktar (TD) is trying to make health care more easily accessible. Every week, TD's medical operators travel to the chars by boat, carrying a laptop, a portable printer for prescriptions and tools to run basic medical screenings such as blood pressure, blood sugar, body temperature and weight.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Perspective: There’s a Lot We Still Don’t Know About Libra
Last month, Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg spent over five grueling hours answering myriad questions from the members of the House Financial Services Committee on issues like election interference, hate speech, censorship and discriminatory advertising. While it was an important reminder of the many dangers that Facebook already presents to our society, we didn’t actually learn much about the hearing’s ostensible topic: Facebook’s audacious plan to create an association of big businesses to issue a new digital currency called Libra.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- cryptocurrency, fintech
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As Debt Grows, More Indian Women Farmers Taking Their Lives
A vicious debt cycle is forcing women in Maharashtra state's Amravati to take their lives as agrarian crisis persists.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Finance
- Region
- South Asia
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A Look Into India’s First Digital Village
“We saw the situation in the rest of India, long lines, fights—everyone’s life had come to a stand still. We were amazed,” says Urmila Ben, a resident of Akodara. “People had made such a big deal out of this whole demonetization, but we could not be bothered any less,” says Chintan Patel, the sarpanch, or head of the village. “For us, life went on as usual.”
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- South Asia
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Germany To Give 1 Billion Euros To India To Lower Green House Gas Effect
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed grave concern about the currently inadequate global level of climate action and called on all countries to step up their efforts.
- Categories
- Environment
- Region
- South Asia
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