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Press release: New UNCDF report examines how to get blended finance right in the world’s 47 least developed countries
Presenting the report, UNCDF’s Executive Secretary Judith Karl said: “While turning the ‘billions into trillions’ is essential, it should not just be about quantity, but also about quality and geography. Increased public and private financial flows must be made to work also for the world’s most vulnerable countries and for communities at risk of being left behind. We need to shift the dynamics of how resources are allocated and to come up with better ways of making finance work for poor people.”
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- Investing
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Chopping Block to Starting Block: How OPIC (Now IDFC) is Writing the Next Chapter in U.S. Development Finance
The Overseas Private Investment Corp. (OPIC) just survived a near death experience. The agency was among the proposed cuts when the Trump administration came into power and began budget negotiations. But with the passage of the BUILD Act, OPIC will transform into the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, with a new budget and a new set of financial tools. We caught up with David Bohigian, Executive Vice President of OPIC, at SOCAP18 to find out what these changes mean for entrepreneurs and others seeking development finance.
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- Finance, Investing, Social Enterprise
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Aerospace technology could enable farmers to produce more with less
The researchers say the central challenge for the highly fragmented African agriculture is, therefore, one of farmer access to the satellite data and analysis. “The question … is less about whether space-based and aerial technologies can help the agriculture. The question is, how exactly can these tools be put in the hands of most farmers?”
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- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- agtech, global development
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Financing the Energy Access Revolution: Three Technologies That Are Driving Africa’s Momentum
Technology has become central to the energy access story in Africa. It’s an essential part of all the key stages of an enterprise’s work – from raising the initial capital and financing the equipment, to designing and delivering the final product itself. And the new possibilities opened up by technology are increasingly seen as potential game-changers, in a region where some 590 million Africans – around 50 percent of the population – are still without access to electricity. Ben Good, the CEO of Energy 4 Impact, explores three areas in which tech-driven approaches – from crowdfunding to cryptocurrency – are making an impact.
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- Energy, Social Enterprise, Technology
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In Kenya, free cash is the latest solution to poverty
Founded in 2010 and working in six African countries, Give Directly sends money straight to the poor allowing them to choose their own priorities, rather than outsiders "deciding instead of them", explains the non-profit's spokeswoman Caroline Teti.
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- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Viewpoint: How the US will transform its investment role in Africa with a new $60 billion agency
For at least thirty years, the US’s commercial relationship with Africa has been dominated by resources underground. Oil, gas and minerals account for about half of all US direct investment in Africa. There has been growth in almost every sector of Africa’s economy, but commercial relations with the US have been dominated by US engagement in natural resources.
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- Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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The Force Awakens: Artificial Intelligence Is Coming – And It Isn’t Going to Put Poor Countries Out of Work
On a scale of polarizing topics in global development, none comes close to artificial intelligence. Everyone seems to have an opinion, and the ongoing war-of-words has drawn in everyone from Bill Gates to Elon Musk. But according to Brinda Sapra, a researcher at the Institute of Financial Management and Research, these arguments tend to gloss over the nuances of AI’s likely economic impact. In particular, she argues that alarmists and “Luddites” have overhyped the valid concerns about AI’s impact on jobs in emerging markets. She makes the case for optimism in this provocative post.
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- Technology
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Impact investing task-force created to draw in the private sector in South Africa
The task-force’s mission is to mobilise capital that will go into growing small businesses, dealing with unemployment and inequity, as well as investing in economic and social infrastructure such as education and healthcare facilities.
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- Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa