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Bangladesh Bank to Launch Instant Payment Platform with Gates Foundation Support
If successful, the initiative could be a turning point for Bangladesh’s financial sector - reducing costs, improving transparency, etc.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Japanese VCs Launch USD $20 Million Early-Stage Startup Fund for Africa & MENA
The fund will invest in four key sectors: finance, mobility, distribution, and sustainability. Furthermore, it will focus on areas such as mobile payments, microlending, digital retail, logistics, and agri-tech.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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Miller Center Capital Supports Altitud to Expand Economic Opportunities for Women in Mexico
For more than a decade, Altitud has provided affordable credit to women who are starting sewing enterprises, which is often their first step toward financial independence.
- Categories
- Investing, Social Enterprise
- Region
- Global
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Symbiotics Launches $5 Million Gender Sukuk With Kashf Foundation, Pakistan
Kashf Foundation is driven by its mission to deliver high-quality and sustainable microfinance services to low-income families and female micro-entrepreneurs.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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From COVID to Foreign Aid Cuts: How Community-Led Financial Access Can Help Women and Their Communities Weather Crises
The COVID pandemic had a substantial impact on women’s financial access in many emerging economies — an impact that persists to this day. Now, as Kathy Guis at Kiva explains, a new crisis is building, as foreign aid cuts and broader macroeconomic uncertainty reduce funding to financial service providers focused on women’s inclusion. She argues that despite the urgency of other global issues, access to financial services matters, and explores how Kiva hopes to grow its support for women and other vulnerable populations despite the challenging funding environment.
- Categories
- Finance
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Acumen Invests $1 Million in Somalia’s KIMS to Grow Off-Grid Solar
"Sharia-compliant solar financing to boost energy access in Somalia."
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Beyond Affordability: Behavioural Barriers to Uptake of Inclusive Insurance
". . .e-MFP’s own Sam Mendelson explains the mental models that make insurance such a hard ‘sell’, and what behavioural insights teach us about how to increase access and uptake."
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Global
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Ripple Launches Second Blockchain Pilot in Colombia to Empower Smallholder Farmers
Ripple’s new Colombia pilot uses XRP Ledger for traceability and microfinance, targeting 300 smallholder farmers producing panela.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Technology
- Region
- Latin America