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Grab Raises $300 Million for Fintech Arm’s Ambitious Expansion
Southeast Asian ride-hailing and food delivery giant Grab has raised more than $300 million from investors led by South Korea’s Hanwha Asset Management Co. Ltd for its rapidly-expanding financial services business.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- South Asia
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Covid-19: Africa Secures About 300 Million Vaccine Doses
300 million doses are being secured independently of the global COVAX effort aimed at distributing Covid-19 vaccines to lower-income countries.
- Categories
- Coronavirus
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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2020 MOST INFLUENTIAL ARTICLE CANDIDATE: Fighting Extreme Poverty During COVID-19: Two Proven Ways to Build Resilience in Times of Catastrophic Disruption
COVID-19 has disrupted life for practically everyone around the world, but people living in extreme poverty are particularly affected. And some estimate that the crisis could push over 80 million more people into extreme poverty. Muhammad Musa at BRAC International discusses two programs that could reduce this impact, improving the lives of marginalized communities both during and after the pandemic.
- Categories
- Coronavirus
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2020 MOST INFLUENTIAL ARTICLE CANDIDATE: How to Support Entrepreneurs in the Time of Coronavirus
The COVID-19 pandemic is causing falling demand, mandatory store closings, labor shortages and other challenges for businesses around the world – and micro and small businesses are especially vulnerable. How can development organizations help these critical drivers of local economies? Juan Carlos Thomas and Andrea Bettosini at Technoserve provide answers to this question, based on past experience helping businesses weather socio-political upheaval in developing countries.
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- Coronavirus, Entrepreneurship
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Press Release: DFC Approves Over $2.1 Billion in New Investments for Global Development
Projects aim to bolster energy security in Eastern Europe, trusted telecommunications networks in Africa, and the global response to COVID-19
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- Coronavirus, Investing
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WDI Leads Research in Gender Equity Impact Investment Effort
The project focuses on 29 SMEs across multiple LMICs in Africa, Asia and Latin America. These businesses work in a variety of sectors, including microfinance and financial inclusion, food and agriculture, and renewable energy and climate. WDI will investigate the outcomes of gender-smart TA provided to SMEs supported by their investors.
- Categories
- Investing
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Press Release: IIX Accelerates Gender Bond Issuances With Pricing of Women’s Livelihood Bond 3
Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) has successfully priced the US$27.7 million Women’s Livelihood BondTM 3 (WLB3), the third bond in the award-winning Women’s Livelihood BondTM Series (WLB Series). Advancing a total of 13 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the WLB3 complies with the International Capital Markets Association (ICMA) Social Bond Principles and will support 180,000 underserved women and women entrepreneurs in the Asia Pacific region to respond, to recover from, and to build resilience in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. The WLB3 is also the maiden investment of IIX’s Women’s Catalyst Fund, a next generation gender lens vehicle designed to accelerate innovative financial instruments for women.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Investing
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IFC, Aavas Financiers Sign Pact for Affordable Green Housing Finance for Low-Income Borrowers in India
A green home is a type of house designed to be environmentally sustainable. Green homes focus on the efficient use of energy, water, and building materials
- Categories
- Environment
- Region
- Asia Pacific