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Social Business Roundup: The Problem with Sachets, the Beauty of Rats and the Dark Side of Cross-Selling
Everyone seems to love the products in individually-sized sachets being sold at the BoP ... except for Mother Nature. Ethiopia's only too happy to roll out the welcome mat for some rats with amazing TB-sniffing skills. A questionable cross-selling strategy in South Africa harms a vulnerable population and raises uncomfortable questions about financial inclusion. It's all part of our weekly Social Business Roundup.
- Categories
- Environment, Health Care, Social Enterprise, Technology
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Samsung Pay beats Apple and Google to launch mobile payments service in India
Samsung has launched its mobile payments service in India.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech
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Kenya is launching the world’s first mobile-only government bond
Kenyan citizens will soon be able to buy government bonds on their cell phones. Kenya’s Treasury said today that the M-Akiba bond, the world’s first mobile-only government bond, would go on sale on Thursday after a delay of almost two years.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Uganda’s youth are addicted to gambling on English soccer, now the government wants to crack down
Paul Wasswa has been sat at the counter for seven hours, his eyes darting between a virtual roulette screen above and betting slips in front. The university student hopes his Saturday spent in one of Kampala’s many betting outlets brings big rewards.
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- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- digital payments
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The Girl Effect: Accelerator Connects Girls in Poverty with Silicon Valley Innovators
What if girls destined for poverty in developing countries were connected with some of the best minds in Silicon Valley? They can be, thanks to the Girl Effect Accelerator, an initiative of the Nike Foundation and the Unreasonable Group. The program helped Annetty Chama go from having no job – and no hope of getting one – to becoming her family's primary bread-winner in Zambia.
- Categories
- Education
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Indians will soon be able to make transfers between digital wallets, thanks to the government
Digital wallets such as Paytm and MobiKwik are set to become inter-operable as Reserve Bank of India (RBI) prepares to open up the Unified Payment Interface platform for them as part of the government’s digitisation campaign.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech
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FinTech’s Elephant Seal Problem
Like the elephant seal, most fintech companies are focused on growing as large as possible. That means they usually choose a free business model to facilitate growth. Kristen Berman and Wendy De La Rosa of the Common Cents Lab say there's a better way: Abandon the free model and focus on removing the true psychological barriers to financial management.
- Categories
- Technology
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Social Business Roundup: A Defiant Asset Manager, Salty Doorknobs and Who Has it Worse?
This week in social business, the world's third-largest asset manager is pressuring companies to add more women to their boards; a Nobel Prize winner's ponderings on inequality within nations might make you rethink life in America; and salt earns a chance to be a hero – for a change.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Health Care, Investing
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