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Cellphones for Women in Developing Nations Aid Ascent From Poverty
Here is what life is like for a woman with no bank account in a developing country. She keeps her savings hidden — in pots, under mattresses, in fields. She constantly worries about thieves. She may even worry about her husband taking cash she has budgeted for their children’s needs. Sending money to a family member in another village is risky and can take days. Obtaining a loan in an emergency is often impossible.
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- Technology
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Indian Prime Minister Modi Asks Reserve Bank to Prepare 20-Year Financial Inclusion Roadmap
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday asked the Reserve Bank of India to prepare a 20-year roadmap for deepening financial inclusion in the country.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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The Power of Social Underwriting: Kiva Zip, on why it pays for lenders to tap the wisdom of the crowd
Social underwriting, ie: assessing borrowers’ creditworthiness by tapping into their existing trust networks, is a time-honored principle in community banking. And it’s increasingly being combined with digital tools to expand access to capital for borrowers that conventional lenders might reject as too risky or unprofitable. Kiva Zip’s senior director describes four ways they are implementing the approach.
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Press Release: Millicom Launches Rwanda’s First Mobile-Based Savings Product with Tigo Cash
Millicom (Stockholmsbörsen: MIC), the international telecommunications and media company, announced today that its Tigo operation in Rwanda has launched the country’s first mobile-based savings product – Tigo Sugira – with Tigo Cash.
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- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Interview: Transforming Banking for the Poor: A Q&A With Jonathan Morduch
Microfinance was once heralded as a key weapon in the fight against global poverty. Yet some 2.5 billion impoverished people across the world still don’t have access to basic financial services, according to the latest World Bank data.
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3 Key Risks in Going Digital – and How Microfinance Institutions Can Address Them: Grameen Foundation provides risk management tips for MFIs adopting mobile solutions
The speed and convenience that make digital services attractive to clients can bring a host of new risks for financial institutions that serve the poor. In the second post in their series on what it takes for microfinance institutions to go digital, Grameen Foundation explores some of these risks, and what MFIs can do to address them.
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Does Microfinance Still Hold Promise for Reaching the Poor?
Nearly two decades ago, when the concept of microfinance as a poverty reduction tool was in its infancy, there was hope that microcredit would transform economic and social structures. With its focus on reaching the previously unbanked, microcredit was expected to bring about change at the household level, a market in developing countries that traditional financial institutions had failed to reach.
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Rwanda: Airtel to Give Clients Soft Loans
A micro-money lending platform whereby subscribers will be able to borrow up to Rwf50,000 payable in two weeks has been launched by telecom services provider, Airtel Rwanda and Atlantis Limited, a micro-finance institution.
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- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa