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Coffee, Cocoa, and the Cutting Edge
Deforestation is threatening crop diversity and jeopardizing the livelihoods of millions of poor small farmers around the world. But innovative technologies and better access to financing can help farmers to counter some of these risks.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Environment, Finance, Technology
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A Microfinance Pioneer Branches Out: Early Learnings from FINCA’s Experiences as an Impact Investor
Some three decades after launching its work in microfinance, FINCA International has gotten into impact investing. Hoping to better understand emerging innovations and their impact on its customers and operations, FINCA Ventures has invested in six social enterprises operating in sub-Saharan Africa. Ami Dalal, the initiative's managing director, discusses the lessons it has learned so far, and how these investments improve FINCA's business strategy while furthering its mission.
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The Rural Credit Rush in India
Data released by Microfinance Institutions Network, a national body for non-banking finance company-micro finance institutions (NBFC-MFIs), shows that NBFC-MFIs, which focus on lending in rural India, account for the largest chunk of the loan portfolio of the microfinance industry.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- South Asia
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Microcredit was a hugely hyped solution to global poverty. What happened?
Studies have shown it hasn’t really lifted people out of poverty. But it’s still made a difference in the lives of the poor.
- Categories
- Finance
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Press release: IDB Invest provides loan to Mundo Mujer, the largest private microfinance bank in Colombia
The financing allows Banco Mundo Mujer to increase its loan portfolio to support communities with easy and quick access to working capital, strengthening its businesses and productive units.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Latin America
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Inclusive Innovation: How Two Mobile Technology Startups are Changing the Game in Microfinance
Securing a bank loan is an onerous task for anyone. But for the 2.5 billion unbanked people worldwide, the obstacles can seem insurmountable. And microfinance and village savings groups both have significant limitations, particularly for people without a credit history. June Sugiyama of Vodafone Americas Foundation explains how two winners of the foundation's annual Wireless Innovation Project competition are overcoming these limitations through mobile technology.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Finance, Technology
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Small Loans Help Increase Rice Yield In Bangladesh, Study Shows
Microfinance institutions have a positive impact on farmers, allowing them to adopt high-yield rice varieties and increase their farming output, researchers say.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Finance
- Region
- South Asia
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Borrowing by mobile phone gets some poor people into trouble
Mobile money, which offers the equivalent of a basic bank account to almost anyone with any sort of phone, has long been seen as a boon for financial inclusion.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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