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Alphabet Inc.’s Google has dominant positions in search, advertising and mobile devices, but the company has had to play from behind when it comes to mobile payments.
Google touts 30 million monthly users for its mobile-payment platform in IndiaBlog Post
In June, Google announced that it would open an Artificial Intelligence (AI) research center in Accra, Ghana later this year – one more sign of Africa’s vast untapped potential for AI innovation. But since developing countries will be hit hardest by manufacturing job losses caused by AI-fueled automation, Google must avoid “merely creating an African outpost for its pre-existing research efforts,” says Ghanaian entrepreneur Timothy Kotin. He explores the transformation impact that companies like Google could make if they invest in regional talent to develop locally relevant AI solutions.
Making AI Work for Africa: Why Google Must Go Local with its New Research Center in GhanaNews
"Our aim is to become the primary financial service provider for the unbanked and underbanked in Pakistan," said Nadeem Hussain, co-founder and CEO of Tez, who has more than 30 years of experience in the global financial services industry.
Press release: Tez Financial Services Becomes the First Pakistani Startup to Raise $1.1 Million in Seed Round Led by Omidyar NetworkBlog Post
Blockchain has become the ultimate tech buzzword, and development organizations are seeking to apply it in projects of every stripe. But as Rose Davis discovered in researching the technology’s social impact applications for Stanford, reliable digital identification is an essential precursor to many blockchain initiatives. Does a distributed ledger that has supposedly transcended the need for centralized oversight actually require some form of verification from trustworthy authorities? And if so, who should provide it? Davis explores these questions in this thought-provoking post.
The Missing Link in the Blockchain: The Need for Trust in a ‘Trustless’ SystemBlog Post
In three years, the gap between the poorest 40 percent and the richest 60 percent nearly doubled across many developing countries. Meanwhile, the gap between primary and secondary school graduates has also doubled – and these inequalities in income and education are more significant than ever in dividing savers and non-savers. Scott Graham at FINCA International analyzes the latest FINDEX numbers to explore how we can reconcile a decline in savings, while poverty is largely falling throughout the world.
Diving into the Gap: What Separates Savers from Non-Savers?Blog Post
Each day, East Bali Cashews (EBC) processes about 800 pounds of raw cashews, preparing them for snack production. The Indonesian company was launched about five years ago after a health care volunteer saw the impoverished conditions many agricultural workers face, and it now employs 400. But the statistic that most impresses Nadia Putri, an MBA candidate at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, is that more than 80 percent are women. After interning there this summer, Putri details how EBC works to advance women by providing training in everything from English to Excel.
Cracking the Nut: How a Cashew Enterprise Empowers Women in Rural BaliBlog Post
It’s often said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. So in a region where 84 percent of SMEs struggle to access capital, why do investors keep recycling the same failed approaches when financing African enterprises? Mercy Mangeni and Joshua Murima at Intellecap discuss what investors and entrepreneurs have done wrong – and explore some innovative ways their organization is working to make it right.
The Definition of Insanity: Why Repeating the Same Approach to Enterprise Support is Failing Africa’s SMEsNews
On September 27, at the 73rd Session of the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA), Sierra Leone’s president Julius Maada Bio made an announcement where he declared that his country had set a new goal to create a national, blockchain-based credit bureau to “radically transform” the country’s financial inclusion landscape.
Ahead of Traditional Banking: How Africa Employs Blockchain For Financial Inclusion
