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Three Key Sessions from Three Days of Discussion at European Microfinance Week
European Microfinance Week is always a whirlwind of activity and insights, and this year was no exception. As a media partner at the event, NextBillion covered some of the key sessions. Here we highlight three of them, one from each day of the event – starting with Friday's must-see plenary, which was streamed live and can now be viewed in a video embedded in this article.
- Categories
- Finance
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A New Program Aims to End Africa’s Financial Gender Gap
Singer Angélique Kidjo is promoting Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa, a program that seeks to boost financing for female entrepreneurs. “Why do banks give more loans to men versus women? That’s the question I have,” she said.
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- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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How Can We Stop Losing Our Minds?: Producing a Legacy From Development Projects, Not Just a Document
Have you ever run, funded or been part of a development project? Have you ever thought: “We should definitely share what we learned?” But then someone wrote a report and that was the end of that. Gavin Starks, the founder of dgen.net, argues that shouldn’t be the end, but the beginning. The power of an open approach to development has many benefits, he says. Done well, it changes the way people collaborate during projects — and helps them produce a legacy, not just a document.
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- Finance, Technology
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Press Release: VisionFund International Raises AUD20M Through Its First Bond in Australia to Help Fund Global Financial Inclusion Initiatives
Offered in Australia to eligible institutional and high net worth investors, the bond is known as a ‘Kangaroo bond’ as it is issued in Australia in Australian dollars by a non-Australian entity. The five-year bond is unsecured and unsubordinated and offers a fixed rate of five per cent per annum, paid semi-annually.
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- Investing
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Viewpoint: Why Mexico’s Fintech Sector Will Be One to Watch in 2020
Mexico has become a regional leader with more than 273 fintech ventures operating in the country. Over the past year, many of Mexico’s fintechs have also attracted significant investment.
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- Finance
- Region
- Latin America
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Badly Needed, Hard to Deliver: The Challenges of Selling Drought Insurance to African Farmers
Millions of poor farmers in Africa can't move beyond subsistence levels because of droughts and other weather disasters. Insuring farmers against these risks is key to helping build their resilience to climate shocks. But providing this insurance – while making a profit – is no easy matter. Jim Hight explores the challenges in discussing WorldCover, a drought insurance provider that's gaining traction in Africa.
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- Agriculture, Finance
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The Emergence of ‘SupTech’ – And How it Can Move Past the Experimentation Stage
“Suptech” describes tech innovation that enhances regulators' supervision of financial service providers. According to Arend Kulenkampff at BFA, it is leveraging Big Data and Artificial Intelligence to radically improve the oversight capacity of financial authorities and lessen the regulatory burden for providers, boosting financial innovation and inclusion. But as the suptech field develops, questions are emerging about exactly what it includes – and whether it's stuck in experimentation mode.
- Categories
- Finance
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Nigerian ‘unicorn’ Interswitch sells stake to Visa
Visa Inc (V.N) will buy a significant minority stake in Nigerian payments platform Interswitch, creating “an instant acceptance network across Africa” that will help drive expansion, both companies said in a statement on Tuesday.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- South Asia
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