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A Roadmap to Food Security: Linking Geodata with Financial Inclusion to Support Smallholders
Smallholder farmers produce a staggering 70 percent of the world’s food, making them essential to food security. Geodata applications have been shown to improve these farmers’ yields and even boost their financial access – one of the main obstacles to increasing production. To help tap into these benefits, NpM’s Innovator’s Challenge brought together 17 tech companies with geodata-based solutions for smallholder financial inclusion. NpM director Josien Sluijs discusses the winning companies, and the broader potential of geodata-based innovation.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Finance, Social Enterprise, Technology
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Airtel is banking on its 40 million subscribers to operate the largest and secure mobile money platform in Nigeria
Airtel says it is banking on it over 40 million customers and its retail footprint across major regions in Nigeria to drive financial inclusion.
- Categories
- Finance, Telecommunications
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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First GSMA Mobile Money Certification Achieved in Latin America
"We are honoured to receive this certification, after 10 years working to promote financial inclusion, transforming lives and deploying digital highways for millions of Paraguayans, who already are beginning to enjoy the new digital economy,” said Ramiro Pascual, CEO of Tigo Paraguay.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Latin America
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Boycott Myanmar: An Open Letter to the Microfinance Community
In response to global events, microfinance has quickly ramped up its focus on refugees. But when those refugees are the Rohingya – the Muslim minority being expelled from Myanmar (and the world’s latest victims of genocide) – this new focus raises some difficult questions, says Daniel Rozas. Why isn’t anyone in the sector talking about the unspeakable atrocities being conducted and condoned in one of the fastest-growing microfinance markets in the world? “There is no way around it: When we work in Myanmar, we are complicit in ethnic cleansing,” Rozas says, in a bold call for a country-wide boycott.
- Categories
- Finance
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South Sudan okays plan to expand mobile money services
Most people in South Sudan’s capital have been relying on small unlicensed mobile operators to transfer money enabled by the platform created by MTN Uganda and Kenya’s M-Pesa platforms.
- Categories
- Finance, Telecommunications
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Press release: IFAAS and Mercy Corps join hands to promote financial inclusion in Ethiopia
Ethiopia counts around 34% Muslims amongst its near 100 million population, second largest in Africa. However, according to the World Bank Statistics in 2017, only 35% of the population have an account with a regulated financial institution, a rate that is significantly below the global average (it is estimated to be much lower among the Ethiopian Muslims).
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Bank of Ghana Begins Overhaul of Microfinance, Rural Banks
Even as public attention remains focused on the fate of Ghana’s universal banking industry, with only a month left to the dead line for recapitalization to a minimum of GHc400 million, the Bank of Ghana is now commencing with its plans to overhaul the country’s micro-finance and rural banking industries.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Skype co-founder raises $105m for Southeast Asian fintech startup
Oriente races big brands to reach unbanked Indonesians, Filipinos and Vietnamese. Oriente charges roughly 3-4% monthly interest rate, while Prentice said some microlending platforms in Southeast Asia charge more than 15%. Those who pay back in instalments are eligible for a discount of 25-50% on the interest rate.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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