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New Data Reveals Massive (Potential) Mobile Money Market for the Poor : Across Africa millions are sending huge volumes of domestic remittances – mostly in cash
A few months back I wrote this quick piece highlighting some preliminary findings from data that was just coming in from a major study the Gallup organization did for us.
Now, the full data set is in and the results are quite interesting.
In collaboration with Gallup, we surveyed 11 countries in Africa (including Kenya) on the payment habits of the adult population. To my knowledge, this is the largest study of its kind – tracking money transfer and payment behavior in the developing world.- Categories
- Education, Technology
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Don’t Touch Our M-PESA!: In Mobile Money, Why Even Sacred Cows Need Scrutiny
I was giving a presentation on the potential of branchless and in particular mobile banking at an international forum, and apparently I upset the Kenyans in attendance for not having lavished enough praise on M-PESA. When I talk about mobile banking I generally use the example of M-PESA because there are few others that are really worth talking about at this point (sadly), and I mostly get “enough with that already” kind of looks. So this was new.
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- Uncategorized
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Mexico experiments with the ‘branchless’ bank
Tess Vigeland: The FDIC estimates that somewhere around 18 percent of the U.S. population is what's called underbanked -- Ppeople who turn to payday lenders and check cashing services and the mattress because they don't have good access to the banking system.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Latin America
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Youth Savings: Finding the Right Financial Tools at the Right Age
With a third of the global population today under the age of 19 and 90 percent of these young people living in developing countries — 45 percent living on less than $2 a day — there is an urgent need to create easy and efficient savings mechanisms for the young. On Thursday (July 26), the Global Assets Project will host the event: Youth and Their Money: New Insights on the Financial Lives of Youth in Developing Countries
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- Education
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Gender Roles in Green and Inclusive Business – Replicating Old Patterns or Breaking New Ground?
The green economy has the potential to empower women – but risks replicating old gender patterns of the ‘brown’ economy, says a new DCED / GIZ study. How does the case look for social entrepreneurship and impact investing?
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- Agriculture, Education, Environment, Social Enterprise
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Replicating M-Pesa: Mobile and Cloud Technology Spur Innovation in Financial Inclusion
Mobile technology and cloud computing are opening doors for low-income individuals and rural communities to financial services. Today, firms like M-Pesa and Ekgaon are paving the way for affordable banking products tailored to the needs of the BoP. But the question is: Can M-Pesa be replicated elsewhere.
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- Uncategorized
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Rio+20: business should help young people to build a positive future
I spent two weeks tracking Rio+20 as a student reporter seeking to make sense of the sustainable development talks, listening to ministers, CEOs and scientists who opened up trail-blazing perspectives on changing economic and societal paradigms.
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- Uncategorized
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Innovations in Financial Inclusion: Community Development and Co-operative Strategies: Ashoka Changemakers has Launched the G20 Financial Inclusion Challenge
In June Mexican Presidency of the G20 and Ashoka Changemakers officially launched the G20 Financial Inclusion challenge during the summit in Los Cabos. It signaled the G20’s continued emphasis on financial inclusion as a component of stable and vibrant financial systems.
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- Uncategorized
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