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Step by Step Credit: Empowering the Unbanked through Progressive Finance
Despite notable progress in the financial inclusion sector, widespread, permanent change remains elusive. The good news, says Aristotle Socrates at Juvo, is that not only is this change possible, but everything we need to make it happen already exists. In fact, it might be as easy as setting aside long-held assumptions about the role of wealth and income in establishing credit. He outlines how improved data infrastructure is connecting lenders to creditworthy customers, producing big gains for both providers and the financially excluded in the developing world.
- Categories
- Finance, Telecommunications
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Nigerians Bury Cash in Backyards as Mobile Money Stumbles
Financial inclusion in Nigeria -- which vies with South Africa as the continent’s biggest economy -- has gone backward as the regulator blocked network operators from applying for mobile-money licenses that would allow cash transfers without the need for a bank account.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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India’s Banking Revolution Has Left Its Villagers Behind
Because Modi’s government effectively forced poor citizens into the banking system by linking some welfare benefits to bank accounts, villagers have ended up stuck in long queues and struggling with ATMs that often run out of cash or break down.
- Region
- South Asia
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The Economic Lives of Sex Workers: Can Financial Inclusion Offer Women a Path Out of the Sex Trade?
True financial inclusion involves reaching marginalized workers, and few are more marginalized than sex workers. Like everyone, these workers have financial needs and goals - including, for many, the goal of finding a safer livelihood. Daryl Collins, CEO of BFA, walks through the revenues and expenses of a sex worker in Ghana to show how access to financial services can impact sex workers – and why mainstream providers need to see the value in this overlooked population.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
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Viewpoint: Achieving Nigeria’s financial inclusion
Despite the country’s economic growth, in February this year, it was reported by the AfDB that over 150 million Nigerians (81% of the population) live on less than $2 a day – a 20% increase in people since 2014.
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Fintechs in India cater mostly to the affluent, huge potential in lower middle class: J P Morgan
Fintechs have an opportunity to cater to the lower middle income or LMI segment with an income ranging from $2 to $10 a day and are about 600 million in number.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- South Asia
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Women Leaders, Women Lenders: Why Impact Investing Should Follow Microfinance’s Lead on Female Empowerment
Women have been an integral part of microfinance since the very beginning. But though the percentage of women in top leadership positions in microfinance institutions is high compared to the rest of the global banking sector, it’s still lower than women’s proportion of the overall population – and far lower than the percentage of female clients served by these institutions. Abiskar Shrestha, a senior investment officer at MicroVest Capital Management, explores how the sector can boost female leadership – and how investors can help.
- Categories
- Investing
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Press release: IFC invests $100 million in Mahindra Finance for loans to farmers
“Since its inception in 1991, Mahindra Finance has been working in the rural and semi-urban areas of India, catalyzing financial inclusion of the unbanked and under-served communities and also partnering with them in their difficult times. Our focus has been on enabling these customers with innovative financial solutions, tailor made to their evolving needs” said Ramesh Iyer, Vice-Chairman & Managing Director, Mahindra Finance.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- South Asia
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