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In a cash-only economy, innovation should empower world’s poorest with financial services: The E-Pay Innovation Award carries a $10,000 prize for the most pioneering startup
Imagine a global economy based entirely on cash. You receive your weekly pay in cash; you pay your rent in cash; you pay your monthly electric and water bills in cash; you apply for a loan and receive the money in cash; and you save cash under the mattress in case of an emergency. It seems almost unimaginable in the United States and Europe, but the fact is, of the 2.6 billion people who live on less than $2 per day, nearly 80 percent do not have access to a bank account.
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- Technology
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Rising Entrepreneurs: New research on reversing underinvestment in women-led Business in Latin America
An innovative research study that analyzes the underlying problems of underinvestment in women-led enterprise led by Value for Women, in partnership with the Aspen Development Network, Cherie Blair Foundation and ING. The research, set for publication in April, is motivated by the fact that in Latin America there are significantly less fewer women entrepreneurs than men.
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- Education
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Charting the Financial Inclusion Groundswell in India: The NPCI’s top innovations
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is aggressively leading the Indian government’s efforts to bring banking to all sections of society. After nearly a decade of research and trials, many of these financial innovation measures for the poor are starting to make their way to the marketplace.
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- Technology
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In Pakistan, Savings Circles Beat Banks
Ali has been selling wall clocks and wristwatches in a crowded Karachi market for 15 years. He’s been participating in savings circles with fellow shopkeepers for just as long, and has used the proceeds to buy a car and acquire a new store.Now he’s a few months away from getting 400,000 rupees ($4,100) from a savings group of 16 shopkeepers into which he’s been paying 1,000 rupees a day for almost a year. He plans to put a down payment on an apartment. “This system is flawless,” says Ali, 35, who goes by one name. “You can never save this way without this binding commitment of making payments every day or every month. At banks there are hassles and procedures that waste time. This is simple. The organizer comes to collect the money himself, and because of the trust element, it’s a given that we’ll get the money.”
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- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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Asia’s Rising Economic Tide Doesn’t Lift All Boats: Multiple strategies for inclusive business investment from the ADB Forum
At the conclusion of a two-year scoping study of how to optimize financial support for inclusive businesses in the Asia Pacific, the Asian Development Bank convened the first Regional Forum for Investing in Inclusive Business in Asia last November, at its headquarters in Manila. The event brought together regional company executives, social impact investors, and development agencies to discuss how all of these actors can better support private sector engagement in inclusive development through targeted investment.
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CFI at Accion, Citi, and Visa Inc. Launch Financial Inclusion 2020 to Accelerate Universal Financial Access
The Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion, together with Citi and Visa Inc., today announced the launch of the Financial Inclusion 2020 campaign (FI2020). FI2020 is focused on the acceleration of financial inclusion by uniting the private sector, governments, NGOs, and other relevant parties to develop and advance a comprehensive strategy to achieve this aim.
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Controlling the Family Purse Strings, But Not the Cell Phone: mWomen report examines how low-income women can gain mobile money access
The report emphasizes that working with the communication channels used by BoP women could be an effective way of combating unfamiliarity, misconceptions, and inequitable social dynamics.
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Of Bank Accounts and Behavioural Economics: Will adaptive learning improve money management interfaces for the poor?
One of the biggest financial challenges anyone faces is the interrelated tasks of budgeting, paying, and saving from income. The rich and poor alike need help in this regard and there has been plenty of work by behavioural economists showing how reminders to follow through on savings behaviours, commitment accounts, account labelling, automatic deposits, formal commitments to friends, and other features.
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