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An Overlooked Obstacle to Digital Finance in Nigeria: How Persistent Right of Way Issues Have Hindered Financial Inclusion
Mobile financial services have rapidly boosted financial inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa. But the region’s largest economy, Nigeria, has consistently failed to keep pace with its peers. Many analysts have attributed this to the country’s regulatory caution, but according to Olayinka David-West and Ibukun Taiwo at the Sustainable and Inclusive Digital Financial Services initiative of the Lagos Business School, there's an even more fundamental obstacle the country must overcome.
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- Finance, Telecommunications
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ID2020 Announces Inaugural Class of Certified Digital ID Solutions
ID2020 announces its first two certified digital identity solutions: Kiva Protocol and Gravity.Earth.
- Categories
- Technology
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GSMA Report: Big Gender Gap in Mobile Internet Access
The study finds that the mobile internet gender gap has narrowed and 54 per cent of women in low- and middle-income countries now use mobile internet, up from 44 per cent in 2017. However, the underlying gender gap in mobile ownership remains largely unchanged
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- Technology
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‘Platform-Led Upskilling’ in Africa: Can Digital Platforms Help Close the Continent’s Skills Gap?
Rising mobile and internet access have resulted in a profusion of digital marketplace platforms in emerging markets like Africa. These platforms have injected structure into informal markets, connecting buyers to sellers and workers to jobs. And according to Jessica Osborn at Caribou Digital, they're also delivering other benefits. She explores how digital platforms are closing the skills gap and transforming the future of work in Africa and beyond.
- Categories
- Technology
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Viewpoint: Unlocking the Untapped Opportunity in Asia Through Impact Investing
There is a huge, untapped market opportunity in Asia, driven by under-served populations, with income levels of the poor in Asia expected to increase significantly over the next decade.
- Categories
- Investing, Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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What’s Working – And What’s Not – in Africa: A New Report Aims to Inform Better Development Practice on the Continent
The challenges facing Africa are substantial – but so too are the unique assets the continent possesses. As the development sector works to address those challenges and leverage those assets, it's useful to highlight both the approaches that are working – and those that aren't. That's the goal of Next Generation's recent report on the social investment and development industry trends impacting Africa. Reana Rossouw explores its findings.
- Categories
- Technology
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Paymob, Tamweely Team up to Empower Female Entrepreneurs
The #AcceptTheChange campaign will initially aim to empower 250 female merchants (and their female clients) by availing e-payment solutions that will allow the selected entrepreneurs to further benefit from a booming digital economy in Egypt.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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Lighting the Way: How the PAYGo Solar Industry is Expanding to Other Life-Changing Products
Millions of customers in Africa are using lighting generated by PAYGo solar – but lights are just one of many products the PAYGo business model can provide – something the companies working in the sector are beginning to realize. Chris Emmott at Fenix International discusses the vast array of products and services enabled by the new connections PAYGo solar companies are making to rural customers.
- Categories
- Energy