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The Rise of a New Asset Class: Can ‘PAYGo Finance’ Connect Investors to Low-Income Customers?
Lendable has pioneered a marketplace lending platform that connects alternative lenders in East Africa with impact and institutional debt investors, to provide financing for leased assets like solar panels and motorcycles. According to BFA, providing these alternative lenders with structured debt financing could potentially give rise to a new asset class: PAYGo finance. If successful in raising funds from investors at scale, the Lendable approach could bring financing for low-income individuals full circle.
- Categories
- Energy, Financial Inclusion, Investing
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International Finance Corporation to invest USD $21 million in Grameen Koota
The renewed trust by these marquee investors is expected to provide more comfort to local lenders who finance MFIs for on-lending.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- debt, finance, financial services, IFC, India, investment, World Bank
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Rescuing Myanmar’s farmers from the debt trap
WHEN Myo Than was a young man, his family had 12 hectares of farmland in Dala, a rural township just across the river from Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city. His mother sold most of it after his father died. Mr Myo Than grows rice on what’s left, but water shortages mean he reaps just one harvest each year. He borrows money from the Myanmar Agricultural Development Bank (MADB)—1.5m kyats ($1,100) this year, at an annual rate of 8%—to cover planting costs.
- Categories
- Financial Inclusion
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- agribusiness, agriculture, debt, microloan
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Kenyan mobile government bond sales cross 50% uptake
The Kenyan government's mobile phone-based bond, M-Akiba, has crossed the 50 percent subscription rate, raising optimism that it will hit the target ahead of time, reports Business Daily. By 14:30 hrs on 29 March, at least 61,000 people had registered on the platform, and bought KES 75.2 million worth of the bond through M-Pesa and Airtel Money.
- Categories
- Financial Inclusion, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- debt, fintech, government, lending, mobile money
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FinTech’s Elephant Seal Problem
Like the elephant seal, most fintech companies are focused on growing as large as possible. That means they usually choose a free business model to facilitate growth. Kristen Berman and Wendy De La Rosa of the Common Cents Lab say there's a better way: Abandon the free model and focus on removing the true psychological barriers to financial management.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Financial Inclusion, Technology
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Airtel plans Africa stakes sales in bid to reduce debt, stay afloat
The Indian parent company of struggling mobile operator Airtel Kenya is set to sell stakes or merge some of its African units in a bid to stay afloat and reduce its debt burden.
- Categories
- Financial Inclusion
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- debt, fintech, global, mobile money
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