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Unlocking an Energy Revolution in Ethiopia With Lessons From the Black Market
A rapidly growing market for solar lanterns and home kits is driving an energy revolution in Ethiopia. Like many low-income countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, Ethiopia is a point of focus for international development and finance institutions as well as donors. Such organizations are channelizing tens of millions of dollars into Ethiopia for energy access. In order to maximize the impact of their investments, they need to have an understanding of local requirements in order to provide tailored financial flows.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- off-grid energy
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Rwanda: renewables sector receives $50m investment
Rwanda's renewable energy sector has received a $50 million injection to be distributed through the Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD).
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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The company that turned African telcos into insurance brokers
In the early 2000s, UK-born Richard Leftley spent two weeks doing voluntary work in Kitwe, northern Zambia. During his stay, he met a woman who described her life as “a game of snakes and ladders” – no matter how hard she worked to get herself out of poverty, she kept finding herself right back where she started every time life rolled the dice against her.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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South Africa really can’t afford free education for all despite the liberation promise
The promise of free education is one South Africa’s liberation heroes have made since 1955 through the Freedom Charter document. The commission’s findings contradict the charter’s dreams and president Jacob Zuma’s compromise to students during the 2015 #FeesMustFall protests that free education was indeed possible.
- Categories
- Education
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- public policy
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Press release: Proudly Introducing The Mastercard Foundation Partnership for Finance in a Digital Africa
We are thrilled to formally launch The Mastercard Foundation Partnership for Finance in a Digital Africa! The FiDA Partnership (the Partnership), established by the Financial Inclusion Program at The Mastercard Foundation (The Foundation), catalyzes knowledge and insights to promote meaningful financial inclusion in an increasingly digital world.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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The hidden cost of crime: Tanzanians using mobile money to protect themselves from robbery, says study
While sending money to others is often seen as the primary value arising from mobile money, a forthcoming study in the INFORMS journal Marketing Science, a leading scholarly marketing publication, shows that in developing countries, mobile money provides another important source of value - a form of theft insurance by protecting cash from street robberies and stealing by relatives or burglars at home.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- fintech
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Digital technology can help reinvent basic education in Africa
The digital revolution currently under way in the region has led to a boom in trials using information and communication technology (ICT) in education – both in and out of the classroom.
- Categories
- Education, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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M-pesa users up 50% in three markets – Vodacom
Reporting its results for the six months to the end of September, Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub said m-pesa customers and transaction numbers grew impressively in Tanzania, Mozambique, Lesotho and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech
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