NextBillion - A WDI Publication

Results

• Blog Post
  Getting to the SDGs – And What’s Next for Multi-Sector Collaboration

  We live in an era of multi-sector solutions. But it's easy to forget that diverse sectors working closely toward big global development goals is a recent phenomenon that didn’t happen by chance. At a talk at the William Davidson Institute, Tami Kesselman, founder of Aligned Investing Global, discussed several key tipping points that have allowed the business, government, philanthropic and impact investing communities to overcome misaligned priorities and mistrust. Check out her interview and her predictions on what will come next in multi-sector development.

• Blog Post
  Preparing Students to Launch: What Needs to Happen on the Ground to Get Social Enterprises Off the Ground?

  Social entrepreneurship is a relatively new field that’s attracting a new type of business leader, and educational approaches to it need to be nimble and inventive. Amy Gillett, Vice President of the Education sector at the William Davidson Institute, chronicles a different type of immersive education – one that brought together more than 400 students in the U.S. and Middle East/North Africa through a “virtual exchange.” The students designed more than 70 businesses - many of which will not be virtual - to tackle real-world challenges.

• News
  Press release: SoftBank Group Corp. Announces Launch of New $5 Billion Technology Growth Fund for Latin America

  The unique traits and rapid economic development of the Latin American market, coupled with the fact that it represents 10% of the world’s population and 8% of the world’s GDP (two times the GDP of India and half that of China), present significant growth opportunities for rapid technology deployment at scale and disruptive innovation.

• Blog Post
  Scaling Access to Finance: Two Recent Studies Explore the Supply and Demand Sides of Funding ‘Missing Middle’ Enterprises in Emerging Markets

  Over $5 trillion: That’s the estimated size of the financing gap for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries – a shortfall that's particularly problematic for the much-discussed “missing middle.” Since these businesses form the backbone of local economic growth and job creation in many communities, we need to better understand the challenges they face, says Karina Avakyan at Triple Jump. She explores two recent publications that address both sides of SMEs’ financing equation.

• News
  Press release: GSMA Report Highlights 20 Per Cent Annual Increase in Mobile Money Accounts to More Than 866 Million Worldwide

  “The mobile money industry is fast-evolving against a backdrop of increasing internet access and smartphone adoption, and now more than ever, mobile’s unparalleled global scale provides a tremendous opportunity to reach the 1.7 billion people who remain financially excluded.”

• Anahit Tevosyan

• Blog Post
  Client Protection in the Age of Fintech: New Standards Promote Best Practices in Digital Finance

  Technology has vast potential to improve lives, and fintech is no exception – but it also has some clear risks and downsides. And linking a complex industry like digital finance with client protection is no easy task. Lucia Spaggiari at MFR and Isabelle Barres at Accion’s Smart Campaign explore their organizations’ joint efforts to tackle this challenge through new client protection standards for digital credit providers. They invite people to provide input on these draft standards during the six-week public comment period, which runs until March 22.

• Blog Post
  Why the Future is African – And Why SMEs Should Lead the Way

  It’s conventional wisdom that small and medium enterprises are key to economic growth in emerging markets. This is particularly true in Africa, where local SMEs dominate the business landscape, and a fast-growing young population needs the services, jobs and economic growth they provide. But as Trevor Hambayi at Development Finance Associates explains, these enterprises face several unique challenges – starting with a lack of finance. He explores the problem, and some solutions that could help unlock the SME sector’s potential.