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Kiva Winding Down Kenyan Operations of Peer-to-Peer Microfinance Lending Platform Kiva Zip
Kiva, a US-based microfinance intermediary, recently announced that it is winding down its peer-to-peer microfinance lending platform Kiva Zip in Kenya. Since its inception in 2012, Kiva Zip has enabled users to lend directly to microentrepreneurs in Kenya and the US. Loans in Kenya are distributed through M-Pesa, a mobile money transfer service. Most of Kiva’s loans differ from those through Kiva Zip in that they are intermediated by microfinance institutions. As of 2015, Kiva Zip had received deposits from approximately 8,000 direct lenders and disbursed the equivalent of USD 1.8 million in local currency to approximately 6,500 borrowers in Kenya. As of the same date, Kiva Zip reported a repayment rate of 91 percent [1].
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- lending, microfinance
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Without Tackling Substandard Medicines, Health Goals Will Falter
Victoria Amponsah was worried when she entered a clinic in Accra, Ghana, to deliver her son — she was especially distrustful of the quality of medicines at the clinic. She had heard stories and seen firsthand many other women from her village enter the clinic to give birth and not come out.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Equitel Share Rises as Safaricom’s Declines
Equitel, the telecommunications arm of Equity Group, grew its share of the mobile telephony market to 2.4 per cent in June from 1.9 per cent in March, fresh official data showed on Friday, as big players marginally lost ground.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Novo Nordisk Joins Business Call to Action with Diabetes Awareness Campaign
The Business Call to Action (BCtA) is pleased to announce that Novo Nordisk, a global healthcare company with more than 90 years of innovation and leadership in diabetes care, has joined BCtA with an initiative to improve access to safe and affordable diabetes care for the working poor in Kenya. The company aims to reach 1.5 million people with a grassroots awareness campaign involving community leaders, healthcare workers and peer educators on diabetes risk factors, the importance of early detection and proper treatment of the disease.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Crowdfunding: Ubuntu Finance in South Africa
Many South Africans dream of getting their concepts off the ground, but they lack the funding to make it reality. Too often their ideas are put on the back-burner for ‘one day’ – when they have accumulated enough wealth; when they finally secure that loan; or when the right investor shows up carrying a suitcase filled with cash.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- crowdfunding, lending
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Viewpoint: Bank-Telco Distrust Inhibits South Africa’s Financial Inclusion
Although partnerships between banks and telcos are essential in enabling financial inclusion to billions of people in Africa, the egos among the institutions are hindering such partnerships, especially in SA.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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‘Riders For Health’ – Post-Ebola Health Delivery Measure Launched
Riders for Health, an international social enterprise that manages and maintains vehicles for health-focused partners in Sub-Sahara Africa has assured the provision of such services in post-Ebola Liberia, aimed at improving Liberia's health delivery system in the area of transport management.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Study Shows Encouraging Refugee Business Enterprise Could Help Stem Rise of Terror Gangs
A new study has shown that Kenya could reap enormous benefits by helping refugees start small businesses thus curbing the emergence of terror gangs within refugee camps.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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