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Press release: Insurers Leverage New Technologies and Reinvent Business Models to Reach Underserved Consumers, Report Finds
The Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion (CFI) and the Institute of International Finance (IIF), with the support of MetLife Foundation, today released a new report detailing the factors spurring inclusive insurance around the world. It reveals how both traditional and new insurers are breaking open new markets and reaching underserved customers through the use of innovative technologies, business models, product design, and partnerships, enabled by effective regulatory environments.
- Categories
- Finance
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Five African tech trends to look out for in 2018
The BBC's Clare Spencer picks five African tech trends to look out for in 2018.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Press release: The Church Pension Fund Invests in $75 Million Off-Grid Solar and Financial Access Senior Debt Fund
The Church Pension Fund invested $17 million in the Social Investment Managers & Advisors Off-Grid Solar and Financial Access Senior Debt Fund I, B.V. The $75 million fund will provide loans to microfinance institutions, distribution companies, and manufacturers in the off-grid solar sector located in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
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- Investing
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Development aid in Africa is flowing to the rich in urban areas and not the poor
In his paper published this month, Ryan C. Briggs, an assistant professor at the department of political science, shows that there are spatial differences in the degree to which aid reaches the poor in Africa. Briggs examined the data by dividing the African continent’s map—including North Africa and the islands—into 10,572 cells after which he aggregated aid projects, population, and poverty levels into each cell.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Free-riders?: U.S. research funding for diseases causes other countries to back out, new study finds
Researchers looked at funding data from Policy Cures and the World Health Organization for 15 neglected parasitic and infectious diseases—including HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, leprosy and meningitis—from 2007 to 2014. The data showed that the U.S. funds over half of the world’s research for these diseases, with the next closest countries being the United Kingdom at just under five percent and France at almost three percent.
- Region
- North America
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Investment where profit means better schools
The British Asian Trust is planning to raise $10m (£7.5m) for an "education development impact bond" in which investments are linked to specific targets in improving education for disadvantaged communities in India.
- Region
- South Asia
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Press release: IEEE Awards $1.2 Million for Off-Grid Energy Entrepreneurs
IEEE, the world's largest technical professional organization advancing technology for humanity, announced that IEEE Smart Village (ISV) has granted $1.2 million in new funds for selected sustainable energy projects with a potential life-changing impact on up to seven million people around the world.
- Categories
- Energy, Technology
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Asian Development Bank Bolsters Microfinance Program with $100 Million in Additional Financing
“Giving small businesses and entrepreneurs access to finance is one proven tool to improve livelihoods and reduce poverty,” said Sabine Spohn, Senior Investment Specialist in ADB’s Private Sector Operations Department.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Asia Pacific