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Microfinance Sees Huge Opportunity Following Banks’ Interest Rates Cap in Kenya
Micro Finance Banks see a huge opportunity for growth as bankers implement the new banking law capping Interest Rates at 4 per cent above the Central Banks Rate.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- microfinance
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Drinking Water ATM Takes Mobile Payments in Kenya
Global pump company Grundfos and telecommunications firm Ericsson have joined forces to deliver a ATM water dispenser that takes mobile payments.
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- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech
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Expanding to Africa, Columbia Pacific Opens Health Clinic in Nairobi
Columbia Pacific Management, a Seattle-based investment firm that runs health-care facilities in various countries, has expanded to Africa.
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- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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OPIC and Microsoft Commit to Support Wireless Internet Expansion in Kenya
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the U.S. Government’s development finance institution, today announced commitment and first disbursement to Mawingu Networks, a provider of solar-powered wireless Internet across rural Kenya. OPIC committed to financing a $4.1 million loan. Mawingu Networks was able to establish their current operating model using an initial grant in 2013 from Microsoft’s 4Afrika initiative, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). They received equity funding from Angel Investor Jim Forster, Paul G. Allen’s Vulcan Inc., and Microsoft Corporation two years after their first phase of support.
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- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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The Growing Influence of Telecom Companies in Off-Grid Markets
The growing use of mobile money solutions for electricity tariff payment is redefining the solar off-grid market in regions such as Africa. Here, mobile money services have seen a tremendous growth over the last decade.
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- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- fintech
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Viewpoint: The Next Big Idea May Be Growing Far From Silicon Valley
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made his first trip to Africa this summer with stops in Nigeria and then Kenya. In June, the Chan Zuckerberg initiative—the philanthropic foundation of Zuckerberg and his wife Dr. Priscilla Chan—invested $24 million in Andela, a company that trains top software developers in Kenya and Nigeria. This trip and investment is a departure from the prevailing mindset in Silicon Valley, where top venture capital firms are investing in companies making products and services—like monthly deliveries of cannabis products or on-demand set-up of personal karaoke parties—to address increasingly minor “first world” problems with some of the country’s best talent.
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- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- philanthropy
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Digital Payments Could Boost Tax Revenue by Nearly $500 Million Each Year and Drive Economic Modernization in Tanzania
Many emerging economies are grappling with how to modernize their economies, improve transparency, drive sustainable growth and advance financial inclusion. This study on Tanzania’s digital payment initiatives reveals the very strong results achieved by the government so far.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech
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Looking To Leapfrog the Power Grid, d.light Raises $22 Million for Solar in Emerging Markets
The development of mobile payment platforms, increasing options for providing debt, and cheaper and better off-grid solar power systems are presenting countries around the world with a chance to leapfrog the archaic electricity infrastructure that defined the twentieth century.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- renewable energy, solar