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GSMA signs $46.5M funding partnership with DFID
The partnership will unearth critical insights on the needs of the underserved and identify and invest in mobile-enabled innovations and business models which can drive inclusion at scale.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Unlocking the Power of Informal Retailers: Mobile Solutions for Commercial and Social Impact in Emerging Markets
More than 61% of the world’s workers earn their living in the informal sector – and 93% of those are in emerging markets. This can lead to unique challenges for both informal retailers and their customers - and for the companies whose products these retailers sell. Analysts at Every1Mobile explore these challenges, and share how their organization and its partners are utilizing mobile-based platforms to help modernize informal trade and unlock economic welfare for low- and middle-income populations.
- Categories
- Technology
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Ethiopia Offers New Hope for Phone Providers With African Dreams
As part of an ambitious reform program, the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed plans to award telecommunications licenses to two private operators next year, and sell a minority stake in Ethio Telecom.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology, Telecommunications
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Viewpoint: Biometrics and Aid
The use of biometric data in aid delivery has become the focus of fierce debate in the past few weeks, as the World Food Programme paused food deliveries in Yemen’s capital city after Houthi rebels refused to allow the registration of recipients’ details.
- Categories
- Technology
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Melinda Gates Pushes G7 to Close Digital Gender Gap in Africa
G7 finance ministers meeting in France are to endorse a paper from the Gates Foundation saying there is a serious risk that digital technology and mobile banking will bypass millions of women in Africa, leaving them disempowered for a generation.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Why Payment Fraud is a Critical Threat to Financial Inclusion – And How Mojaloop is Making it Worse
The next key step in financial inclusion is payment interoperability, in which digital finance providers’ networks are connected to enable transactions between users of different systems. But though interoperability has major potential for the sector, it also comes with huge risks, says Clear Purchase founder Nick Brown, an expert in payment infrastructure. He explains why a massive payment fraud attack could do substantial and long-lasting damage to the financial inclusion movement, and how an open-source platform like the Gates Foundation's Mojaloop increases the risk.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Mastercard Debuts Card to Act as ID, Payment for Underserved
Members of underserved populations don’t always have credit cards. City Key is Mastercard’s effort to help cities distribute services and benefits by creating a tool that can act as an ID, payment card or access pass.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- North America
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MSMEs Are the Backbone of Developing Economies: New Research Shows How Digital Platforms Can Boost Their Impact
To keep pace with the growing youth population, 600 million new jobs must be created globally over the next 15 years. Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) will be key to that effort, say Alina Kaiser at Caribou Digital and Annabel Schiff at the Mastercard Foundation’s FiDA Partnership. They explore how digital platforms can boost MSMEs in emerging markets, based on learnings from 27 micro-entrepreneurs in Kenya.
- Categories
- Technology