-
One Village at a Time: A Women-Led Model for Bringing Digital Services and Financial Inclusion to Rural Bangladesh
Women customers constitute a huge market in rural Bangladesh, where many men have migrated to cities or foreign lands in search of work. Garima Singh at FinValue Advisors explores how the Bangladeshi financial services company Zaytoon Business Solutions is expanding access to digital financial and government services in rural communities — while boosting women's empowerment and employment — by extending its agent network to include "village digital booths" staffed by local women.
- Categories
- Finance
-
International Investors Raise $34.5 Million for Digital Finance Firm Serving Indian MSMEs
FlexiLoans seeks to improve access to financial resources for millions of micro and small-scale entrepreneurs who are excluded from traditional lending, because they lack a conventional credit history.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
-
Solving the Funding Challenges of Indian MSMEs: The Advantages of Founder-Friendly Non-Dilutive Financing
About 30% of India’s GDP is generated by micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which provide jobs for more than 110 million people and account for around 50% of the country’s exports. But as Bhavik Vasa at GetVantage points out, a drop in private equity and venture capital investments has led many of these entrepreneurs to shift towards more founder-friendly types of non-dilutive capital. He discusses the funding challenges facing Indian MSMEs, and why alternative forms of non-dilutive financing are uniquely suited to these businesses' needs.
- Categories
- Finance, Investing, Technology
-
Stripe to Soon Allow US Retailers to Sell Directly to Nigerians
Stripe is the biggest private fintech currently valued at $70 billion, according to its latest internal valuation, known as a 409a.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Global
-
Aviva Raises $5.5 Million to Provide Financial Services to Underserved
The company operates a series of kiosks around Mexico that allow users to apply for loans via video call, get approved in real time and receive their funds in under 24 hours.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Latin America
-
How Thousands of Americans Got Caught in Fintech’s False Promise and Lost Access to Bank Accounts
The collapse of middleman Synapse has revealed fintech’s promise of safety as a mirage. More than 100,000 Americans with $265 million in deposits have been locked out of their accounts.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- North America
-
BranchX Becomes India’s First Neobank to Launch ONDC Loans for Financial Inclusion
This initiative marks a significant step towards financial inclusion for India’s 1.4 billion people.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Asia Pacific
-
OPay and Moniepoint Issue $17 Million Verve Cards as Nigerian Fintechs Switch From Visa and Mastercard
A change in consumer behaviour and macroeconomic conditions are leading Nigerian banks to issue local cards like Verve to customers, dumping international card schemes like Visa and Mastercard.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- digital finance, fintech
Subscribe to Our 'Business in Global Development' Newsletter!
Our new weekly LinkedIn newsletter features NextBillion's latest original articles, along with curated news, jobs, bizdev opportunities and events from our recent coverage of impact-focused business in emerging markets.
We respect your privacy. Your information is safe and will never be shared.
Don't miss out. Subscribe today.