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Gates Foundation Partners Ripple and Coil in Financial Inclusion Initiative
Other than implementing Ripple’s Interledger Protocol, ways of using open source payments software MojaLoop to enable disbursement systems geared towards the poor will be explored. Gates Foundation provided the funding which financed the development of MojaLoop (which borrows the Swahili word Moja, meaning one).
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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IFC and Alipay Announce 10×1000 Tech for Inclusion Programme to Inspire Technology Leaders in Emerging Markets
Alibaba Group founder and Executive Chairman Jack Ma said that the programme aims to build an interactive and open platform to increase support for tech leaders and skilled individuals who are working to alleviate poverty and make basic financial services more broadly accessible in Indonesia, which will be the first stop of the programme within emerging markets.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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‘Fintech can transform Asia’s women entrepreneurs’
The ESCAP initiative, launched on 29 September on a side meeting during the 2018 UN General Assembly, viewed women’s entrepreneurship as key to economic growth and inclusion.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Finance
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Viewpoint: The challenges for fintech adoption in India
Promoting fintech in India is preaching to the choir. In 2005, then Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Y.V. Reddy used the term ‘financial inclusion’ for the first time in the central bank’s annual policy statement. In the decade and change since, it has become one of the leitmotifs of governance.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- South Asia
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Diving into the Gap: What Separates Savers from Non-Savers?
In three years, the gap between the poorest 40 percent and the richest 60 percent nearly doubled across many developing countries. Meanwhile, the gap between primary and secondary school graduates has also doubled – and these inequalities in income and education are more significant than ever in dividing savers and non-savers. Scott Graham at FINCA International analyzes the latest FINDEX numbers to explore how we can reconcile a decline in savings, while poverty is largely falling throughout the world.
- Categories
- Finance
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The Advantages of Boots on the Ground: Is it Really Possible to Digitize the Last Mile in Smallholder Agriculture?
Mobile connections, big data and technologies like artificial intelligence are creating new opportunities to serve smallholder farmers with financial and other services. But since many farmers still lack reliable internet and mobile connectivity, businesses serving these customers must still leverage both physical and digital tools, says Hamilton McNutt at Strategic Impact Advisors. He explores the different ways some businesses are combining digital innovations with an on-the-ground presence to solve the challenges of last-mile access.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Technology
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‘It is Time to Rethink Microfinance’: Exploring a Sector in Transition in the Asia Pacific Region
The Asia Pacific microfinance sector is changing. Its MFIs have seen rampant growth, and the enterprises they serve have financing requirements that are growing more complex. In response, some MFIs are adapting their business models into different types of financial institutions, such as small banks. In short, the sector is evolving from a niche segment to a mainstream industry – with all the challenges and opportunities that implies. The Asia Pacific Microfinance Forum will discuss this evolution in Singapore on October 30-31, bringing together MFIs, NGOs, impact investors, entrepreneurs and others, all committed to building a better world.
- Categories
- Finance
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Ahead of Traditional Banking: How Africa Employs Blockchain For Financial Inclusion
On September 27, at the 73rd Session of the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA), Sierra Leone’s president Julius Maada Bio made an announcement where he declared that his country had set a new goal to create a national, blockchain-based credit bureau to “radically transform” the country’s financial inclusion landscape.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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