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Financing to Boost Renewables, Energy Access and Efficiency in Côte D’Ivoire
EDFI ElectriFI has backed microfinance institution Fin’ELLE with a €1.5 million ($1.69 million) investment to boost renewable energy, energy access and energy efficiency in Côte d’Ivoire.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Linking the Needs of Customers and Providers: A Framework for Effective Financial Health Measurement
Many financial service providers (FSPs) want to improve the financial health of their low-income users, but they often struggle to measure it. According to Nishant Kumar and Sonal Agrawal at Lakshya, one key challenge is that many FSPs don't see the business benefits of investing in financial health measurement. They share three principles that can help providers understand the distinct needs of different user groups, and develop a measurement methodology that links customers with interventions that impact their financial health – while boosting the FSPs' bottom line.
- Categories
- Finance, Impact Assessment
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Tugende Raises $17 Million in Debt to Expand Vehicle, Equipment Financing for MSMEs in Kenya, Uganda
Tugende, a financial technology (fintech) firm specializing in vehicle finance in Uganda and Kenya, recently raised USD 17 million in debt funding.
- Categories
- Finance, Transportation
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Vote for NextBillion’s Most Influential Article of 2021
As an open forum for emerging markets business, NextBillion publishes around 150 original, guest-written articles per year, covering enterprises, innovations, challenges and opportunities across multiple sectors and geographies. Each December we select the 12 most-read articles of the past year to include in our "Most Influential Article of the Year" contest. We invite you to vote for the article that impacted you the most in 2021. You can vote up to one time per hour during the two-week voting period, which runs from Dec. 20 to Jan. 2.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Coronavirus, Energy, Finance, Impact Assessment, Investing, Technology
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Microfinance for Better Housing: How the Sector Can Serve Low-Income Borrowers in India and Other Emerging Markets
In most emerging countries, populations are growing and the numbers moving into cities are rising even faster. Providing housing for these often low-income individuals has become a huge global challenge. But as development sector researcher Moin Qazi points out, these borrowers' lack of credit history, collateral and property rights makes it difficult for both traditional commercial lenders and microfinance providers to serve them. He explores the challenges facing housing microfinance in India and other emerging markets, and highlights some solutions.
- Categories
- Finance
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Analysis: Private Asset Impact Funds Show Resilience in the Face Of The COVID-19 Pandemic, Forecast Double-digit Growth In 2021
With a record sample size of 175 impact funds, the 2021 edition of Tameo’s flagship research report brings refreshing transparency and a holistic understanding of key trends and benchmarks inherent to impact investing strategies through funds.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Investing
- Region
- Global
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The Next Financial Inclusion Revolution: The Transformative Potential of Scaling Small Group Savings in the World’s Poorest Communities
Despite $52 billion invested in financial inclusion in 2019 alone, nearly 2 billion people – many of them among the world’s poorest – still lack access to formal finance. As Jeffrey Ashe at Grassroots Finance Action points out, these communities often turn to informal savings and credit groups to meet their financial needs – but there are many who are too poor and marginalized to be invited to be part of these groups. He explores a proposal that aims to expand access to informal savings groups to reach these financially excluded individuals around the world.
- Categories
- Finance
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European Investment Bank Publishes Unique Analysis of Impact of COVID-19 on Financing Across Africa
The new report explores how access to finance provided by banks, microfinance and private equity sectors have been affected and what long-term trends may impact private sector investment.
- Categories
- Coronavirus
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa