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Press Release: With Focus on Africa, New DFC and Mastercard Collaboration to Provide up to $50 Million in Potential Financing to Enable Digitization and Financial Inclusion
DFC seeks to support potential investments of up to $50 million in organizations within the Community Pass network.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Access, Understanding and Trust: Breaking Down the Barriers to Women’s Participation in India’s Digital Finance Revolution
The digital gender divide has long occupied international development headlines, as gaps remain between men and women in both access to and usage of digital technologies in many emerging economies. According to Anant Nyshadham at Good Business Lab, Shalin Gor and Divya Nair, and Emily Coppel at IDinsight, India is no exception. They explore the three types of obstacles that are preventing Indian women from participating in digital financial services, and share some implications for providers of these services.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology, Telecommunications
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Most Tanzanian Merchants Believe That Digital Retail Payments Will Benefit Their Business. Why Are They Still Using Cash?
A large gap between the use of digital retail payments in high-income countries and low and middle-income countries (LMICs) cannot be completely explained by differences in access to digital financial tools.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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The Power of Trust in Digital Finance: How to Leverage Trusted Technology to Maximize Inclusion and Impact
Trust can be a significant barrier to engagement in digital financial services among low-income users. According to William Derban at Opportunity International, that means providers must often take measures to address this trust deficit when developing digital services that target these customers — particularly women. He discusses Opportunity International's new Trusted Tech Microfinance Initiative, and shares six ways the initiative is working to build clients’ trust in the technologies Opportunity and its microfinance partners are using.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology, Telecommunications
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Can Access to Smartphones Bridge the Digital Divide in Sub-Saharan Africa?
Research shows that mobile phones can be a useful tool in the fight against poverty, increasing both household income and consumption. But according to Amani M’Bale at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Graham A.N. Wright at MicroSave (MSC), to reach that potential, it’s important that these phones are able to bridge the digital divide, becoming accessible to, and used by, the underserved people they can benefit the most. They share several factors that can increase — or limit — the usage of smartphones and other mobile devices in sub-Saharan Africa.
- Categories
- Finance, Telecommunications
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Augmented Reality for Financial Literacy: An Innovative Approach to Delivering Immersive Customer Education
India's Business Correspondents – i.e., retail agents engaged by banks to provide financial services at locations other than a bank branch – often struggle to learn about the new products and services their banks offer. And though online training has become the new normal during the pandemic, many of these agents find it difficult to complete. Piyush Singh and Rahul Ranjan Sinha at Grameen Foundation India discuss the value of augmented reality in addressing this challenge – and in enhancing online financial education more broadly for underserved customers.
- Categories
- Education, Finance, Technology
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To Tax or Not to Tax Mobile Money: The Impact on Digital Financial Services in Africa and Beyond
Mobile money is widely seen as a promising engine for global development. But governments in Africa are also increasingly viewing it as a lucrative source of tax revenue. With critics raising concerns about the impact of taxing mobile money and other digital financial services, Adrienne Lees and Phil Mader at the Institute of Development Studies explore whether existing research can inform any confident predictions about the effects of these taxes on providers, customers and the broader financial inclusion sector.
- Categories
- Finance, Telecommunications
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Press Release: Mastercard Strive Community Awards $1 Million to Digital and Data-First Projects to Strengthen Small Businesses
Strive Community has awarded enterprises developing innovative, scalable solutions to strengthen small businesses’ digital capabilities, through its Innovation Fund.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Global
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