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Financial innovation the next big thing in clean energy and efficiency
A new wave of innovation is sweeping the energy transition sector, promising to accelerate deployment and cut the costs of energy-efficiency measures, as well as wind and solar generation. It isn’t a technological improvement, like cutting hardware and labor costs. It isn’t a policy mechanism like feed-in tariffs. It isn’t even a new business model, like selling storage services. It’s financial innovation.
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- Energy, Environment
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Weekly Roundup – 11-9-13 – For Sale: Your Future: Should young people sell shares of their future earnings to investors?
Upstart is a crowdfunding company geared toward young people in the U.S. who are struggling with the cost of college education. It’s one of several new companies that allow investors to fund students’ careers, in exchange for a percentage of their future earnings. Is this a welcome innovation meeting a growing demand, or is it exploitation of the heavily indebted youth? We explore the topic in this Weekly Roundup.
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- Entrepreneurship
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Kenya: Scratch Cards Provide Short Term Savings for Zambian Cotton Farmers
Among problems facing farmers is access to financial services, including banking services and loans. In Bungoma County, Western Kenya, farmers shied away from small and micro financial institutions due to the high cost of loans and high expectations imposed on them. In Zambia, a donor funded pilot project brought in some form of financial inclusion to cotton farmers.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Expert Slams Crowdfunding As A ‘Fad’
Crowdfunding’s dismal record in securing substantial investment for entrepreneurs has made it an unsustainable platform for businesses in the long run, according to a London Business School enterprise expert.
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- Entrepreneurship
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Why mobile money can work in rural areas
Mobile money is an important means of facilitating the transfer of funds across rural areas in Africa, but services are often designed to function in a specific way – which might not be to the benefit of all who are making use of them.
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- Agriculture
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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New Report Finds $5 Billion in Investments in FinTech for Financially Underserved Americans
Study Tracking Investment Activity in FinTech Companies with Potential to Help Financially Underserved Consumers Shows Growing Market, Investor Opportunity, and Emphasis on Payments and Specialty Credit Technologies
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- Uncategorized
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Fundamental Funding: How basing funding on business fundamentals helps early-stage enterprises
In India, hundreds of entrepreneurs are setting up innovative social businesses. They are able to access equity funding for early stage enterprises, but once they are past the proof of concept and need working capital, they hit a funding snag. Simmi Sareen explains this critical gap in the financial ecosystem, and how funding based on business fundamentals can address it.
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- Entrepreneurship
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A Farewell to Cash?: The move toward a cashless world – and what it could mean for the BoP
In a digital world, why do we remain so attached to old-fashioned bits of metal and paper? David Wolman tackles the question in his book, “The End of Money," which illuminates the forces that could be driving us toward a cashless future. He spoke with NextBillion Financial Innovation about what a cashless world might look like - and what it could mean for the poor.
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- Uncategorized
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