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India’s Little Shops Are a Massive Banking Network in the Making
Indians who still rely on cash are a ready-made financial-services market and a lucrative sideline for the corner store.
- Region
- South Asia
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Rwanda’s central bank urges MFIs to automate to reduce bad loans
The National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) has called on microfinance institutions (MFIs) across the country to embrace automation and reduce the rate of bad loans before the end of the year.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Four Steps to Avoid Dead-End Impact Investing Leads
Dead-end leads are frustrating for both entrepreneurs and investors. They involve wasted time and resources, disappointment, and the erosion of relationships – and sometimes the exchange of capital that's a poor fit for the entrepreneur’s business. To prevent these issues, the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) has created an online toolkit to help impact entrepreneurs identify their top investor targets. Kimberly Langsam and Cathy Clark at CASE summarize the simple four-step process – and CASE will host a free online demo with more information on March 13 and 19.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
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Madagascar: $45 Million to Promote Financial Inclusion of Individuals and Small Enterprises
Madagascar Financial Inclusion project will specifically target women and women-owned enterprises, to reduce disparities in access to finance for women. The direct beneficiaries of the project will include teachers, students and taxpayers that will have the option to receive and make government payments through an e-money transaction account.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Breaking the Catch-22 of Poverty: What’s Next for the Graduation Model?
People in extreme poverty are trapped in a catch-22: They're poor because they can't build a livelihood, and they can't build a livelihood because they're overwhelmed by the crises of poverty. The graduation approach can break this cycle – but though research has demonstrated its effectiveness, it's difficult to scale. Evelyn Stark of MetLife Foundation and Jaya Sarkar of Trickle Up discuss Trickle Up's efforts to adapt the model to achieve mass scale and sustainability.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
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Press release: Closing the Gender Gap in Women’s Access to Financial Products and Services Could Unlock $330 Billion in Annual Global Revenue
A new report from BNY Mellon and the UN Foundation reveals that increasing women's access to financial products and services could expand the market for financial service providers and promote gender equality.
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Extending access to credit: Are alternate finance platforms creating tangible impact in India?
Having recently been brought under the regulatory ambit by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the thought was that the nascent online P2P lending sector can play a significant contribution towards furthering the cause of financial inclusion.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- South Asia
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Press release: The Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs and MetLife Foundation announce awards to support financial inclusion in Latin America
The goal of the ANDE Catalyst Fund is to increase the productivity and effectiveness of ANDE members, while creating tools and insights that can help the small and growing business (SGB) sector as a whole. This round’s winners—ARTEMISIA, New Ventures, Village Capital, and World Vision Canada—are working to increase access to financial services for low- and moderate-income Latin Americans.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Latin America
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