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Viewpoint: Much Hangs on Mobile Money in East Africa
From his shack in Kangemi, a slum at the western edge of Nairobi, Gilbert Onduko sells bare essentials to his neighbours. A blackboard above the hatch lists prices for ugali(maize cooked into a sort of porridge), farina (similar to semolina) and cooking oil. On the roof of the shack is a small solar panel, about the size of a tea tray, which powers two lights inside and a mobile phone. Since he got it, about a month before your correspondent visited, Mr Onduko has been able to keep his shop open until midnight rather than just in the daytime. He has also cut down his kerosene bill by 100 shillings (about $1) a day—a hefty saving in a Nairobi slum. “And now my phone is always charged,” he grins.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Africa’s Banks Work With Fintech Startups to Avoid Being Left Behind
Africa's banks are running scared. On a continent where traditional banking has clearly failed – 80 percent of the population, around 330 million adults, don't use formal or semiformal banking services – new services are emerging that could yet render banks redundant.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- fintech
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Easypaisa, Nestle Collaborate to Facilitate Dairy Farmer Payments in Pakistan
Providing financial access to thousands of Pakistani dairy farmers as part of its mission of empowering societies, Easypaisa has collaborated with Nestlé Pakistan to make disbursement of milk collection payments swift, easy, and transparent.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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Why China’s Fintech Surge is Only Just Beginning
In China, MetLife Foundation's newest approach to improving the financial health of everyday consumers is through harnessing the power of social entrepreneurs. Next month the foundation will invite social enterprises (nonprofit and for-profit alike) across China that are focused on increasing access and use of financial services among low- to moderate-income people to enter their products to participate in a new competition. Why China is booming for fintech and what's next.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Tags
- fintech
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Pakistan Unveils First Domestic Payment Gateway
Pakistan on Tuesday unveiled the country’s first domestic payment scheme ‘PayPak’ to facilitate ecommerce and improve financial inclusion.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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Why African fintech startups are so attractive to investors
The recently-released African Tech Startups Funding Report released by Disrupt Africa found fintech was the most popular destination for funding in the tech sector after solar in 2015.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Samsung Pay Joins China’s Trillion Dollar Mobile Wallet Market
With Apple already expecting China to be its biggest mobile payment market, it's no surprise that its biggest direct competitor, Samsung, also wants a slice of this piping hot pie. After a one-month public beta, today the Korean giant is officially launching its Samsung Pay service in China in partnership with UnionPay -- inevitably the same bankcard company thathelped launch Apple Pay locally. In other words, only UnionPay credit and debit cards -- up to 10 of them per device -- can be associated with local Samsung phones for the time being.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- fintech
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How PayPal is Moving Beyond Payments: An Interview with Tyler Spalding
Many people know PayPal primarily through its ubiquitous buttons enabling online donations to nonprofits, blogs and other websites and causes. But it also has a significant presence in the world of social business – something that represents a growing priority for the payments provider. We discussed this evolving focus with Tyler Spalding, lead manager on PayPal's Social Innovation team.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
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