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Visa and Kenya’s Safaricom Partner on M-Pesa, Payments and Tech
The arrangement opens to M-Pesa’s own extensive financial services network in East Africa Visa’s global merchant and card network across 200 countries.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Mobile Money Interoperability in Ghana Goes up by Over 350% in the First Quarter of 2020
The money transfer across different mobile networks, which is referred to as Mobile Money Interoperability (MMI), has increased by 358% in the first quarter of 2020.
- Categories
- Finance, Telecommunications
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech
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How Software-as-a-Service is Helping Digitize Latin America’s Small Businesses
The software-as-a-service (SaaS) business model is allowing small businesses around the world to compete with larger firms at a fraction of the cost. However, as Greg Mitchell at Angel Ventures points out, in markets like Latin America, the rise of SaaS has been slow and difficult. He explores how that dynamic is changing, and how SaaS is boosting the region's small businesses.
- Categories
- Technology
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Coronavirus Is Triggering Deep Digital Change in African Fintech
In a bid to curb the spread of the virus, the World Health Organisation has been cautioning against the use of hard currency and encouraging the use of digital payments. This move has prompted African governments and regulators to enforce measures aimed at facilitating more cashless transactions.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- digital finance, fintech
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Where to Invest in Africa in the Face of COVID-19
As Africa heads towards recession, it’s not easy to know where to invest. Akinyi Ochieng and Isaac Kwaku Fokuo, Jr. highlight three areas that are likely to fare better during the downturn
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Viewpoint: COVID-19 Is a Call to Action for Regulators to Boost Financial Inclusion
Mobile money transfer and global remittance firms such as Chipper Cash and WorldRemit are particularly vital for migrants who rely on these services to send money home for essentials such as school fees, medical costs or groceries. As the services are increasingly available through mobile devices, they are a particularly efficient instrument in the push toward financial inclusion and the achievement of several UN Sustainable Development Goals.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance
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The Informal Economy is Complicating Government Responses to COVID-19: Will the Crisis Push Millions Toward Formality?
As COVID-19 devastates the global economy, many governments have designed support measures to help businesses and workers survive. But as Jill Lagos Shemin and James Dailey point out, this support may be ineffective in lower-income countries, where most small businesses and their employees work in the informal economy, lacking bank accounts and even valid ID. They explore some solutions governments can pursue – and trade-offs they will have to accept.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance
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Africa’s Tech Innovators Spy Opportunity Amid Pandemic
Fintech startups and others in the tech ecosystem are reappraising their services to try and cater to the economically vulnerable who are most affected — an audience that they would hope to retain once the crisis passes.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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