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Ensuring That Women’s Financial Access Is Not Another Casualty of COVID-19: The Value of Agent Banking
As COVID-19 continues to ravage global economies, the existing gender-poverty gap is set to widen: UN Women projects that for every 100 men aged 25-34 in extreme poverty due to the pandemic, 118 women of the same age will be living in extreme poverty this year. Peris Mburu at FSD Africa explores why agent banking is a promising solution to this growing challenge – and how its benefits can extend beyond access to finance.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance
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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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Central Bank of Nigeria Disburses N374 Billion (USD 983 Million ) To Smallholder Farmers
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday said it has funded smallholder farmers (SHFs) under the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) to the tune of N374 billion across the cassava, maize, cotton and rice value chain from 2016 to date.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Here Are 4 Technology Trends From Emerging Economies
In emerging economies, the promise of these technologies shines particularly bright.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance, Technology
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COVID-19 Hits East African Agri Value Chains
With increased global food, financial and health crises plaguing the world, about 1.3 billion people are not able to access sufficient or nutritious food, and close to a billion people suffer from chronic hunger.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Coronavirus
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Telenor Microfinance Bank Receives $45m Equity Injection To Continue Its Growth on Digital Strategy
Telenor Microfinance Bank, the first scheduled microfinance bank of Pakistan and the operator of the country’s leading digital payments platform Easypaisa, has received an investment of $45 million from its shareholders Telenor Group and Ant Group Co., Ltd. (Ant Group).
- Categories
- Investing, Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Impact Investor Acumen Fund Backs Agri-Tech Firm Kheyti
Kheyti Tech Pvt. Ltd, an agricultural-technology firm focussed on improving the yields and income of small farmers, has raised funding from impact investor Acumen Fund.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Investing
- Region
- South Asia
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Bank Mitras in India: How Agents of Financial Inclusion Were Neglected During the Pandemic
The bank mitras continue to work without defined working provisions and under inadequate remuneration, observed the AIBEA in a letter addressed to the bankers’ body.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance
- Region
- Asia Pacific