-
Central Bank of Nigeria gives room for microfinance bank mergers and acquisitions
There is an expectation of stronger microfinance banks (MFBs) in the country if the micro institutions that could not meet with their recapitalisation requirements, successfully engage and conclude with mergers and acquisition as they are directed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Opportunity International & The MasterCard Foundation Plan To Help 7M Out of Poverty With $22.7M Partnership
Opportunity International is a non-profit microfinance organization established in 1971. Over the last 42 years OI has provided $6 billion in microfinance loans and has reached over 5 million clients in 22 countries. In 2009, The MasterCard MA -1.08% Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation partnered with OI and co-funded a $16 million project to expand access to saving accounts and agricultural loans in Sub-Saharan Africa.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
-
Why Insurers are Looking to Kenya’s Low-Income Earners for New Business
Low-income earners have traditionally been underserved when it comes to being provided with avenues to manage the risks they face every day.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
-
OPINION: India’s Mor Report on Financial Inclusion Doesn’t Focus Enough on Expanding Access to Credit
The Committee on Comprehensive Financial Services for Small Businesses and Low-Income Households (the Nachiket Mor Committee on financial inclusion) has delivered a detailed report in a very short time.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
-
Saving Nigeria’s micro-finance banking sector
The recent approval of the liquidation of 83 micro-finance banks (MFBs) by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is bad news from the banking sector. It is worrisome that as many as 83 of these institutions are going under, barely four years after 224 of them were declared insolvent in 2010, with attendant negative implications for depositors’ funds.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Weekly Roundup – 3/22/14: Why it’s time to start feeling good about Africa
If the facts don’t fit the frame, all too often, those facts are disregarded. The facts about Africa’s economic and entrepreneurial growth continue to defy the frame of the “impoverished third world and therefore to be pitied” continent that, even now, remains fixed in the minds of many.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Human-Centered Design: The Key to Mobile Money Adoption?
While mobile money is now available in almost every emerging market, active usage remains low. In fact, only about 30 percent of registered mobile money accounts are actively used, according to the most recent GSMA State of the Industry report. Bridging this crucial gap between registration and active usage will require providers to design products and services that are not simply ‘great ideas,’ but that truly meet the needs of end users.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
InVenture raises $1.2-million to help serve emerging markets’ underbanked
InVenture is a credit score for anyone with a mobile phone. In order to expand its phone-based personal finance software, InSight, which generates financial identities and credit scores for the underbanked in South Asia and Africa, the startup has recently raised US$1.2-million.
- Categories
- Technology
Subscribe to Our Weekly Newsletter, "NextBillion Notes"
Published each Wednesday, our e-newsletter features NextBillion's latest original articles, along with a selection of news, jobs, bizdev opportunities and events from our recent coverage — and regular conference ticket giveaways.
We respect your privacy. Your information is safe and will never be shared.
Don't miss out. Subscribe today.