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Vodafone Aims to Replicate M-Pesa’s Success in India
M-Pesa, the mobile-based money transfer and payment service that has been highly successful in Kenya since its launch in 2007, is now available in India by Vodafone, working through its fully-owned subsidiary Mobile Commerce Solutions Ltd (MCSL), and ICICI bank, the country’s largest private sector bank.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Poor and Unbanked in India?: Why 12 digits could equal financial inclusion
The Aadhaar program has already begun issuing 12-digit individual identification numbers that will soon let Indians verify their identity and address any time, anywhere within the country. Each Aadhaar ID number is connected to a citizen’s biometric data: photograph, iris scans and fingerprints. It will allow individuals to document their credit history and link their ID number to electronic payments through an Aadhaar-connected bank account.
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- Uncategorized
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In Africa, the best ‘charity’ is aid for business
The traditional approach to solving Africa’s problems has been to rely on charity and aid – free money, more or less. And while charity has done much good for millions across the continent in terms of food security, health care, emergency response, and education, its chief weakness is that its results have not proven sustainable. Africa finds itself continually going back to donors simply to maintain the status quo. What the continent really needs is to create the environment – political, economic, and social – to achieve self-sufficiency.
- Categories
- Education
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- banking, skill development
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Visualizing Financial Inclusion (and Shaping It)
With the year 2020 as the target, the Center for Financial Inclusion, along with Citi and Visa, are building a campaign leading up to the Financial Inclusion 2020 conference, set for Oct. 28-30 in London. Although the conference itself is invitation-only given the limited capacity and massive interest, this is a big tent effort.
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- Uncategorized
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Charting the Financial Inclusion Groundswell in India: The NPCI’s top innovations
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is aggressively leading the Indian government’s efforts to bring banking to all sections of society. After nearly a decade of research and trials, many of these financial innovation measures for the poor are starting to make their way to the marketplace.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Technology
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In Pakistan, Savings Circles Beat Banks
Ali has been selling wall clocks and wristwatches in a crowded Karachi market for 15 years. He’s been participating in savings circles with fellow shopkeepers for just as long, and has used the proceeds to buy a car and acquire a new store.Now he’s a few months away from getting 400,000 rupees ($4,100) from a savings group of 16 shopkeepers into which he’s been paying 1,000 rupees a day for almost a year. He plans to put a down payment on an apartment. “This system is flawless,” says Ali, 35, who goes by one name. “You can never save this way without this binding commitment of making payments every day or every month. At banks there are hassles and procedures that waste time. This is simple. The organizer comes to collect the money himself, and because of the trust element, it’s a given that we’ll get the money.”
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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Calvert Foundation’s ‘Accessible, Reliable’ Road for Impact Investing: CEO Lisa Hall discusses options for engaging investors
Calvert Foundation is at the apex of impact investing. As an organization, it has a lot to share in the way of knowledge and expertise, which is why I’m excited to announce that Calvert Foundation will be joining NextBillion as our most recent content partner. For an overview on the nonprofit lender’s 17-year history and for a sense of what’s next for both Calvert Foundation and the broader impact investing sector, I spoke with President and CEO Lisa Hall.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship
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Innovative Banking Strategies for the BoP in India: Exploring ‘No Frills Accounts’ and the business correspondent model
In India, commercial banks have begun to comply with financial inclusion mandates, leading to innovative—though far from perfect—strategies to bank the poor. Yet even if promoting social inclusion may not be part of a bank’s business philosophy, the potential market for banking the global informal economy—estimated to be worth around $10 trillion annually—should speak for itself.
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- Uncategorized
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