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An Unlevel Playing Field: Why Small Businesses Face Disadvantages in Digital Commerce – and How Inclusive Tech Innovations Could Help
One reason COVID-19 has been so damaging to global micro and small enterprises (MSEs) is that consumers have shifted towards purchasing online – a change that has mainly benefited large corporations. According to Malika Anand at BFA's Catalyst Fund, making digital commerce more inclusive could help these businesses survive and grow in the long term. She shares research from Ghana that highlights several promising opportunities for digital commerce innovations that can benefit informal MSEs.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance, Technology, Transportation
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How GoDaddy is Boosting Digital Skills Development in India
The brand is helping small businesses from tier-2 & 3 cities to grow online.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise, Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Data in Real Time: How Digitalisation is Transforming Financial Policies in Africa
For the past year, Cenfri and Finmark Trust have been partnering with NextBillion to share insights from their Insight2Impact (i2i) initiative, a five-year program that has sought to improve financial inclusion and related public policies through the smarter use of data. As the Openi2i Series concludes, i2i lead Hennie Bester takes a look back at the program and the learnings it has generated. In this interview, he explores how digitalisation and data are transforming the policy landscape in Africa and beyond.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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This Funding Approach Can Help Social Entrepreneurs Weather the COVID-19 Storm
A “crisis” is generally defined by an acute, time-bound period of disruption, hardship, or challenge. A crisis comes, and it goes. And when it does, calm and a return to normal typically follow. Yet, what happens when crises follow one another at an accelerating scale and pace? How do you respond when the crisis is the new normal?
- Categories
- Coronavirus
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Press Release: Mobile Money Adoption Within IDP Camps in Somalia Provides Unlikely Blueprint for Navigating COVID Pandemic
Internally displaced people’s (IDP) camps are relying upon Somalia’s intricate mobile money infrastructure to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. Accelerating the adoption of mobile money by IDPs across Somalia has been shown to be effective in mitigating the risk of the COVID-19 spreading while providing rapid fund delivery.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Technology, Telecommunications
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Analysis: COVID-19 and the Future of Work in Africa’s Mobile Industry – What the Experts Say
In 2019, the GSMA conducted research on Powering Youth Employment through the Mobile Industry in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2025. Since then, the world’s employment market has experienced unprecedented uncertainties because of COVID-19.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Nigerian Government Launches Digital Skill Acquisition, Employability, Entrepreneurship and Leadership Initiative
The Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports has launched the DEEL initiative aimed at giving Nigerian Youth an added advantage and a competitive edge in the global workforce.
- Categories
- Education, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Digital Access Matters: The Benefits of Bringing High-Speed Internet To Low-Income Communities During COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has led people around the world to work and shop from home – but as Dirk-Jan Koeman and Kara Ing at Poa Internet point out, this is easier for some than others. For instance, in densely-populated urban areas in Kenya, the lack of high-speed internet makes working from home almost impossible. They discuss how Poa is bringing these households online, and share research on how these newly connected customers are using the internet.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Social Enterprise, Technology, Telecommunications, Transportation