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GSMA Launches Mobile Money Test Platform
The GSMA launched a mobile money interoperability testing platform (ITP), designed to provide an open, secure environment for operators, financial providers and other stakeholders to trial systems ahead of full deployment.
- Categories
- Finance
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Press Release: 2X Challenge Exceeds Initial Target by Committing and Mobilizing $4.5 Billion in Capital Towards Women’s Economic Empowerment
The 2X Challenge is a multilateral initiative launched during the G7 Charlevoix Summit with the ambitious objective of deploying and mobilizing unprecedented amounts of capital to support projects that empower women as entrepreneurs, as business leaders, as employees and as consumers of products and services that enhance their economic participation.
- Categories
- Investing
- Tags
- 2X Challenge, CDC Group, CDP, coronavirus, DEG, development finance, DFC, EIB, FinDev Canada, Finnfund, FMO, gender lens, GIIN, IFU, impact invest, JBIC, JICA, Proparco, SIFEM, women entrepreneurs
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It Takes a Bank to Rebuild a City: JPMorgan, Detroit and the Value of Private Sector Solutions to Urban Decay
Many large U.S. cities have fallen victim to extreme urban decay – and nowhere does this ring truer than in Detroit. But according to Mike Brown at LendEDU, the city is experiencing a turnaround, due in part to a five-year, $150 million investment by JPMorgan Chase. He explores why private sector giants should use their financial might to build upon this success.
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IFAD Makes Landmark Investment in Impact Fund Helping Rural SMEs
In a continuation of its efforts to help small-scale farmers and micro-, small and medium size rural enterprises in developing countries create jobs and increase incomes, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) announced today an investment of US$9 million (€8.4 million) into the Agri-Business Capital (ABC) Fund, a blended capital impact fund.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Overcoming an Outdated Narrative: Why Investors Need to Recognize Africa’s True Potential
Many Western people have an outdated view of Africa, defined by senseless wars, poverty and disease. As Cameron Khosrowshahi and Emily Langhorne at USAID INVEST point out, this worldview even permeates the financial sector, causing investors to overemphasize risks and overlook opportunities that could benefit both investors and African nations. They provide a necessary corrective in this article, urging institutional investors in particular to embrace these opportunities.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Investing
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Insurance in the Age of COVID-19: The Pandemic Highlights the Need for a New Approach
With much of the world on lockdown due to COVID-19, many businesses are closing down – either temporarily or permanently – with devastating effects on individual welfare and entire economies. This has amplified the importance of insurance, says Kate Rinehart-Smit at Cenfri. She explores how the sector can make a greater impact – not only on the resilience of businesses and individuals, but on broader economic development.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance
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The SDGs Are Falling Short on African Poverty: SME Investment Could be a Game Changer
Though the UN's first Sustainable Development Goal aims to eradicate poverty, this goal is not on track to be met – particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where projections indicate that over 23% of the population will still be living in extreme poverty in 2030. Trevor Hambayi argues that there's a clear need to look past the UN's favored strategies of addressing poverty through government and NGOs, and to focus instead on unlocking the potential of Africa's small and medium enterprises.
- Categories
- Finance
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Mobilizing Development Banks to Fight COVID-19
Both developed and developing countries urgently need large-scale funding to help maintain economic activity and jobs during the current pandemic. Fortunately, more than 400 development banks around the world can play a vital role in minimizing economic decline, supporting recovery, and financing structural transformation.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance
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