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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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Arisaig Seeks To Maximise Impact ‘Bang for Buck’ With New Next Generation Emerging Markets Fund
Arisaig Partners made a bold foray into impact investing in emerging markets by launching its new public equities fund, the Next Generation Fund, in early September.
- Categories
- Health Care, Investing
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M-Pesa Revenue Dip in Kenya Is Beyond Mobile Money Fee Waivers
While it’s logically a good move putting the health and the wellbeing of people first, this single directive is found to have also caused a significant dip in revenue for Kenya’s dominant mobile money service, M-Pesa, and by extension, the country’s leading telco, Safaricom, took a hit.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Mastercard, Juvo Team up To Help Underbanked Build Credit in LATAM, Caribbean
Mastercard is teaming up with FinTech startup Juvo to help the “underbanked” in Latin America and the Caribbean to build credit histories so they can engage in a wider range of financial services.
- Region
- Latin America
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Digitisation of Remittances Can Support Africa’s Economic Recovery
Across the continent, where tourism and hospitality have come to a grinding halt, thousands of jobs have been lost in both the formal and informal sectors. Amidst this gloomy narrative, a shining light has been the formidable resilience of remittance flows into African markets after the initial shock of the pandemic and national lockdowns.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Analysis: Fear on the wild frontier as riskier stock markets left trailing
Frontier stocks have trailed bigger emerging markets in recovering from the coronavirus-induced crash as liquidity has dried up and investors beat a hasty retreat.
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Data + Digitization: The Key To Helping African Banks and Microfinance Institutions Support Their Customers During COVID-19
Thanks to COVID-19, the IMF projects 2020 to be the worst year for Africa's economic growth since its record-keeping began in 1970. And concerns are also mounting about the likelihood of an increase in non-performing loans, which will impact businesses, industries and individuals across the continent. Cate Rung at Pngme explores how financial technology – including a unified data API platform – can help banks and microfinance institutions weather this crisis, while delivering services that comply with social distancing measures.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance, Technology
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Pandemic Draws More Latin American Poor Into Banking System
Sonia Fierro has lived her entire adult life selling children’s books on the streets of Colombia’s capital, earning wages that barely cover her living expenses, let alone the monthly fees that come with a bank account.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance
- Region
- Latin America
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