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Q&A: Bill and Melinda Gates expand on 3 surprises from annual letter
Of the surprises they’ve been confronted with along their journey to philanthropy, the Gates write: “Some worry us. Others inspire us. All of them are prodding us to action. We hope they do the same for you, because that’s how the world gets better.”
- Categories
- Finance
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Viewpoint: It’s time for data to serve a higher social purpose
The bottom line is this: data and humanity – and data and business – are now intertwined, and there is no going back.
- Categories
- Technology
- Tags
- data, global development
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The Promise of Psychometric-Based Credit Scoring in Financial Inclusion
Many lenders are using alternative data to improve their credit models and better serve the underbanked. But though this data is usually finance related, non-financial data can also be uniquely useful in reaching new customers, says Innovative Assessments CEO Saul Fine. He explores how psychometric testing can provide insights into the personal character traits that define reliable borrowers, and how this can help lenders maintain good loan performance – while serving customers whose traditional credit histories might otherwise exclude them.
- Categories
- Finance
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Press release: Mastercard and The Rockefeller Foundation Announce ‘Data Science for Social Impact’ with Initial $50 Million Commitment
The collaborative was announced at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, with an initial commitment of $50 million from The Rockefeller Foundation and the Mastercard Impact Fund over five years and an invitation to other companies and philanthropies to join.
- Categories
- Technology
- Tags
- data, philanthropy
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How Does Digital Finance Impact Low-Income Clients? Insights From a New ‘Evidence Gap Map’
Digital finance can help people live happier, healthier and more prosperous lives – but those outcomes are not inevitable. And the more data we have about the effects of various digital finance products, the better those products will be, says Niamh Barry at Caribou Digital. That’s why the Partnership for Finance in a Digital Africa created the Digital Finance Evidence Gap Map, which now includes 55 studies covering 60 products. Barry highlights some key insights from the research, and how it can boost the sector’s social impact.
- Categories
- Finance, Impact Assessment
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How Data-driven Strategies Can Improve Impact Investing Outcomes
The Rockefeller Foundation has been designing ways to harness data effectively in order to improve the effectiveness of impact investing. “Data really helps you understand the nature of the problem, and thinking about data ahead of time helps you structure your experiments and your interventions,” said Zia Khan, vice president of initiatives and strategy at the foundation
- Categories
- Investing, Technology
- Tags
- data, impact investing
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Why the next big thing in fintech is not mobile payments
The next big thing in fintech isn’t mobile payments – it’s data.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Ease Off on the Accelerators: Why GALI’s Latest Study on Accelerator Programs May Be Overstating Their Impact
Early-stage social venture accelerators are growing at a rapid pace in emerging markets, and they receive widespread acclaim – driven in part by positive results from research conducted by the Global Accelerator Learning Initiative (GALI). But South Africa-based investor Nicky Khaki cautions that, while accelerators can certainly have value, their benefits to participating companies may not be as clear cut as GALI's data suggests. He explores why the studies may be exaggerating accelerators' impact – and how they could do better.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Social Enterprise