-
The Philippines’ Voyager Innovations raises $175m from KKR and Tencent
In total, the company now has raised $215 million in funding since Voyager Innovations also secured $40 million from International Finance Corporation (IFC) and IFC Emerging Asia Fund last week.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Asia Pacific
-
Kenya’s M-Pesa mobile money service now works with China’s WeChat Pay
Tens of millions of people using Kenya’s dominant mobile money service M-Pesa will now be able to transfer cash to over a billion active users of China’s digital payment system WeChat Pay.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
-
South Sudan okays plan to expand mobile money services
Most people in South Sudan’s capital have been relying on small unlicensed mobile operators to transfer money enabled by the platform created by MTN Uganda and Kenya’s M-Pesa platforms.
- Categories
- Finance, Telecommunications
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
-
WorldRemit Teams Up With BRAC Bank & bKash for Bank/Mobile Money Transfers to Bangladesh
Using the WorldRemit app or website, the Bangladeshi diaspora living in more than 50 countries may now send money quickly and securely.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- South Asia
-
On the Ground at European Microfinance Week: Discussing Technology’s Threat and Promise – and Financial Services for Refugees
There were two topics that dominated debate at last week’s European Microfinance Week (EMW) conference: the threats and opportunities brought about by the fintech revolution in inclusive finance, and the issue of financial inclusion for refugees and internally displaced persons. The discussion of these issues ranged from hopeful to surprisingly cautionary – Sam Mendelson at the European Microfinance Platform shares some highlights.
- Categories
- Finance
-
MTN opens up mobile money platform to developers
“It has been 20 years since we started operating in Uganda and our role in this economy has been evolving. Today, opening the mobile money API further emphasises our ambition of being a digital company." said Wim Vanhelleputte, the MTN Uganda chief executive officer.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
-
Borrowing by mobile phone gets some poor people into trouble
Mobile money, which offers the equivalent of a basic bank account to almost anyone with any sort of phone, has long been seen as a boon for financial inclusion.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
-
The New Face of Poverty: Why Unemployment isn’t the Issue – And How Financial Inclusion Can Help
When you think about poverty, what does it look like? Many people might picture an undernourished African child, or an elderly beggar sitting in the street. But as Oakam CEO Frederic Nze explains, the reality can be far different. Poverty today often involves the struggles of the working poor, and it’s defined less by extreme deprivation and more by lack of access – to clean water, to power, to basic education, and increasingly to the internet. Nze explores the implications of this shift for the financial inclusion and development sectors.
- Categories
- Finance, Telecommunications