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A New Era of Farming: Unlocking Innovations for Smallholders Via Non-Traditional Finance
Non-Traditional Finance (NTF) may be critical to unlocking innovation processes among smallholder farmers, and could represent an untapped opportunity to enable them to break the cycle of poverty. But there's a lack of guidance on promising practices for the systemic application of NTF to support scaling of smallholder farmer innovations. That's why MEDA launched a call for proposals for NTF ideas, for which the deadline is Oct. 6.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Inclusive Fintech
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Designing a Mobile Wallet for Nonliterate People: A Beginner’s Guide
There are about a billion adults in the world who can neither read nor write, but they manage to participate fully in the economy. As fintech evolves, the financial services sector must keep this significant population in mind. Vivek Anand and Saborni Poddar of MicroSave explore what designers should keep in mind when devising a mobile wallet interface for literate and illiterate customers alike.
- Categories
- Inclusive Fintech, Technology
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Register Now for SEEP’s Conference Before Prices Go Up Saturday
The 2017 SEEP Network Annual Conference will bring together leading practitioners, funders, research organizations and private sector actors dedicated to promoting more inclusive and resilient markets and financial systems Oct. 2-4 in Arlington, Va. The conference will feature 25 peer learning sessions in four technical tracks, two plenary sessions and five SEEP Fail Fest sessions.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Investing
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The 7 Trillion Dollar Question: Can Sustainable Financial Products Close the SDG Financing Gap?
Val Smith of Citi gives global context to what sound like the impossibly high costs of reaching the Sustainable Development Goals on clean energy and global warming, saying there is good news behind the daunting gap. The challenge is that current investment levels in development and climate-positive activity remain far below what is required – but current trends in innovative finance are heartening.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Investing
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It’s Not Just About Price: Innovative Solutions to Africa’s Remittances Problem
Through remittances, millions of migrants in developed countries support the basic needs of loved ones in their home countries. But with limited alternatives available, substantial costs are incurred – particularly in Africa where the average cost of sending money is 9.8 percent. Barry Cooper at Cenfri looks at some innovations that have the potential not only to decrease high fees, but to increase access beyond urban areas.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
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No Internet? No Problem: Turning a Feature Phone Into a Digital Library Can Transform Lives
The cycle of poverty in developing countries is real and often riddled with misinformation. That's why the 3-2-1 Service on simple feature phones – which functions like a search engine without the internet – is so important. And people are willing to pay for it. This not only changes how users engage with their phone but also how international development agencies can engage with users to improve livelihoods.
- Categories
- Education, Entrepreneurship, Technology
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From Farm to Phone to Table: A Case Study Series Explores the Impact of Digital Tools on Agriculture
Over the past decade, the use of mobile phones and other digital tools in farming has skyrocketed. Today, more than 60 percent of the population in the developing world now have at least one mobile phone. USAID aims to show that digital tools can improve cost-effectiveness and development outcomes in food security and nutrition programs. Cristina Manfre and Christopher Burns explain a USAID case study series on different approaches.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Technology
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Why We Broke Up the Company: A Former CEO of M-Agri Pioneer Esoko Explains
After a rapid revenue increase and the development of a mobile commerce platform, Esoko saw that it had some challenges balancing its very different product lines. Former CEO Hillary Miller-Wise walks us through the m-agri pioneer's decision to spin off into two companies.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Technology
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