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Savings-Led Digital Finance: The Dawn of a New Era?
The digital lending market surpassed $300 billion in 2020, with significant growth among emerging markets customers who access “instant loans” from their mobile phones. But according to Philip Acton and Finn Tiedemann at DreamStart Labs Inc., there are growing concerns about the risky practices used by some of these digital lenders. They argue that one solution may come from a new generation of “savings-led” digital finance apps that use clients' savings capacity as a proxy for their ability to repay loans – a development they describe as an important milestone in digital finance.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Linking the Needs of Customers and Providers: A Framework for Effective Financial Health Measurement
Many financial service providers (FSPs) want to improve the financial health of their low-income users, but they often struggle to measure it. According to Nishant Kumar and Sonal Agrawal at Lakshya, one key challenge is that many FSPs don't see the business benefits of investing in financial health measurement. They share three principles that can help providers understand the distinct needs of different user groups, and develop a measurement methodology that links customers with interventions that impact their financial health – while boosting the FSPs' bottom line.
- Categories
- Finance, Impact Assessment
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Nigerian Ethical Credit-Recovery Fintech Bfree Secures $1.7 Million, Expands to Asia, Europe, South America and Across Africa
Bfree, a Nigerian credit management fintech, has embarked on global expansion after raising $1.7 million in a pre-Series A round.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Tugende Raises $17 Million in Debt to Expand Vehicle, Equipment Financing for MSMEs in Kenya, Uganda
Tugende, a financial technology (fintech) firm specializing in vehicle finance in Uganda and Kenya, recently raised USD 17 million in debt funding.
- Categories
- Finance, Transportation
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Kenyan Fintech Startup Paylend Raises $2 Million Seed Funding
Kenyan fintech startup Paylend has raised US$2 million in seed funding to expand operations at home and launch in Tanzania, Zambia and Nigeria.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- financial inclusion, fintech, MSMEs
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Paylend, a Kenyan FinTech Company Raises $2 Million Seed Investment From Next Chymia Consulting HK Limited
Paylend, a Kenyan FinTech startup focused on providing access to finance and digitizing MSMEs in Kenya have today announced that it has raised a $2 million dollars seed investment from Next Chymia Consulting HK Limited.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Viewpoint: Dump Diamonds for Digital? Botswana Bets on Tech
Phatsima has also built an organisation that trains thousands of young girls in robotics, coding and entrepreneurship programmes.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- fintech
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Brazilian Consumer Credit Startup Open Co Raises $115m in SoftBank-led Round
Open Co, a São Paulo-based consumer credit company, announced today that it has raised $115 million in a round led by SoftBank Latin America Fund.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Latin America
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