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Leveraging the Currency of Trust: How Social Commerce Data Can Inform Risk Management and Bring Formal Finance to Women-Led MSMEs
Across emerging markets, millions of women entrepreneurs operate in trust-based economies invisible to formal credit systems. As Nabilla Prita Fiandini and Monica Christy at MicroSave Consulting (MSC) explain, these businesses rely on their social reputations and customer relationships to survive, and often use platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp to market their products. They share insights from a recent MSC report based on surveys and interviews with hundreds of social sellers across Indonesia, exploring how data from these entrepreneurs' social commerce activity can be used to boost their access to formal finance.
- Categories
- Finance
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AI Risk Management in Digital Finance: Protecting Africa’s Underbanked from Invisible Threats
Digital finance has been a game-changer for financial inclusion across Africa. But as information technology security analyst Nathaniel Adeniyi Akande explains, many communities remain excluded — and though AI-powered lending tools offer new opportunities to reach them, these tools also introduce new risks that can undermine trust or even exclude the people they are designed to serve. He argues that it is digital lenders’ responsibility to anticipate and mitigate these threats, and explores several practices that are essential to AI risk management in the sector.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Zippi, a Brazilian Digital Credit Fintech, Raises Us$15.9 Million to Expand Credit Access for Micro and Small Businesses in Brazil
Securitized through FIDC and supported by Tiger Global, the capital will help double the credit offering to underserved entrepreneurs and SMEs.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Latin America
- Tags
- credit scoring, fintech, MSMEs, startups
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Afrocentric Credit Rating Agency to Debut Soon
The decision to establish an AfCRA was to provide fair, transparent and development-focused credit ratings that reflect the realities and potential of African economies.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Analysis: Solving the Last-Mile Puzzle: How Non-Banking Financial Companies are Democratising EV Ownership in India’s Tier II and III Cities
"The real leap in electric mobility won’t happen on highways—it will begin in the heart of India, where NBFCs are helping turn aspirations into access, and vehicles into ventures."
- Categories
- Energy, Finance, Transportation
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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MapMyCrop, Varaha, and Connektra.io Secure Fresh Funding to Drive Innovation
The following startups have announced their latest funding rounds, securing investments to drive innovation and expansion.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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CreditChek Partners With CredPal to Expand Credit Access Across Africa
CreditChek is positioning itself at the forefront of transforming credit access across Africa.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Indonesia’s Skor Technologies Raises $6.2 Million in Pre-Series a Funding Led by Argor Capital
The capital raised will be focused on helping the business achieve scale while growing the team with key talents across the organization.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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