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How Two Africans Overcame Bias To Build A Startup Worth Billions
A pair of twentysomethings from Uganda and Ghana thought there was a fortune to be made bringing transnational financial services to Africa's 1.2 billion people.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Expanding Financial Opportunity to All: Kiva CEO Chris Tsakalakis Discusses the Pioneering Lending Platform’s Evolving Focus
In April of last year, Chris Tsakalakis was named CEO of the San Francisco-based microlending nonprofit Kiva, after successful leadership stints at Vivino, the world’s largest online wine marketplace, and StubHub, the world’s largest online ticket marketplace. We caught up with Tsakalakis roughly one year into his tenure at Kiva, to discuss his vision and priorities for the organization, the lessons he’s learned in his time at the helm, and his thoughts on the challenges and opportunities facing Kiva and the broader microfinance sector in the coming years.
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The Philippine Fintech Market to Reach 44 BN USD Despite the Socio-Economic Hurdles
The largest growth occurred in the mobile wallets, online payments, and wire transfers segments.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Press Release: 18,000 Voices, 41 Countries, and 72 Microfinance Institutions: 60 Decibels Unveils Definitive Assessment of Microfinance’s Social Impact
Microfinance is improving quality of life, increasing the resilience of low-income customers to withstand economic shocks, and reaching people without prior access to financial services without creating overindebtedness.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
- Region
- Global
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Talk360 Raises $4 Million Seed Round to Expand its Calling Business, Build African Payment Platform
Talk360’s calling app raises capital to expand footprint and brand across Africa, and open its’ payment platform to other merchants.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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AfricInvest Closes African Midcap-Focused Fund at Over $400 Million
AfricInvest, a leading investment platform active in multiple alternative asset classes including private equity, venture capital, private credit and listed equities, has announced the final close of its AfricInvest Fund IV with total commitments of US$411 million.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Constant Ventures Is Raising $100 Million VC Fund for Investment Into Tech Startups Across West Africa
The investment will go to technology start-ups across West Africa – focusing on marketplace platforms and finance, healthcare, and education initiatives.
- Categories
- Education, Finance, Health Care, Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Resolving the Core Tension of Impact-Focused Fintech: A Viable Model for Reaching Rural Women with Digital Financial Services
Reaching last-mile communities is challenging for a business that also has to attend to its own bottom line. Claudia Sosa Lazo at IDEO.org discusses a partnership between IDEO.org, BRAC, bKash and the Busara Center for Behavioral Economics that is seeking profitable ways to bring digital financial services to rural women in Bangladesh. She explains how the partnership provides a model for other businesses and NGOs that hope to unlock both profit and social impact, while bringing beneficial products to the world’s most excluded communities.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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