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Bank vs. Telco: The simmering mobile money standoff
Professional conferences are usually heavy on information and light on emotion. But participants at Friday’s Mobile Money conference were treated to as impassioned a debate as you’re likely to see in a roomful of financial services practitioners and academics. The combatants: a banker and a telco representative competing in the mobile financial services space in Africa.
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- Uncategorized
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How a Colombian Utility Buttresses the BoP: How EPM’s social financing works
Through 2012, EPM’s social funding program benefited more than 120,000 families by providing loans worth US$69 million. By the end of 2013, the Colombian utility expects to serve nearly 33,000 new families and deliver an additional $US28 million in loans.
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- Entrepreneurship
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World’s first social impact insurance entity, HUGinsure, announced at the Clinton Global Initiative
The world’s first social impact insurance entity, HUGinsure, was launched on Sept. 24 at the 2013 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting by Dalberg and Hollard Insurance.
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- Impact Assessment
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The Road from Innovation to Scale: Experiments to Improve Product Design
As part of NextBillion Financial Innovation’s launch, we invited a number of leaders to contribute their views on where innovation is heading, and what obstacles remain. Today Dean Karlan, president and founder of IPA, describes how to design innovative financial products that are both scalable and effective in addressing the real needs of the world’s poor.
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- Uncategorized
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Agent banking in Nigeria: Long wait to ‘hit the ground running’
In August 2013, approval requirements for financial institutions wishing to key into Nigeria's agent banking business were released. Where are we now?
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- Uncategorized
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Sustainable Farming Needs Sustainable Finance: How Rainforest Alliance helps the environment by helping farmers get loans
Lenders consider agriculture to be particularly risky. Farms are often located in remote areas, crops are vulnerable to pests and unpredictable weather, and prices are susceptible to rapid changes. To help address these challenges, the Rainforest Alliance launched its Sustainable Finance Initiative, which helps farmers and SMEs access different types of loans.
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- Agriculture
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Coalition of Public, Private and Civil Society Leaders Unveils Roadmap to Financial Inclusion
Financial Inclusion 2020 today announced the launch of the Roadmap to Financial Inclusion, a series of recommendations designed to expand access to quality financial services globally.
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- Uncategorized
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Day 1 at Mobile Money: Technology to Transform Transactions
Center for Effective Global Action at the University of California Berkeley hosted “Mobile Money: Technology to Transform Transactions” – a conference sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation this week. With mobile money entrepreneurs and representatives from large firms
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- Technology
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