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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
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The Quiet Revival of Microfinance: Why The Sector is Poised for Greater Growth and Impact in 2025 and Beyond
After starting in the 1970s, the microfinance industry had become a global sensation by the early 2000s, only to see its momentum wane over the subsequent decade due to concerns about high interest rates and poor borrower outcomes. But according to Kris Coppock at Five Talents, a number of data points reveal that microfinance has quietly turned a corner in recent years. He explores how the sector is emerging from the malaise that defined the past decade, driven by a lending approach that treats access to capital as just one part of a wider toolkit for building resilience, opportunity and dignity.
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Verdant Capital Expands Investment in LOLC Africa to $13.5 Million, Boosting MSME Financing Across the Continent
"Recognised as one of the world’s leading microfinance groups, LOLC targets customers at the “bottom of the pyramid” by improving access to financial services and increasing customer deposits across underserved communities."
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Beams Fintech Fund Joins Infinity Fincorp’s USD $40 Million Funding Round
With a pan-India presence spanning 127 branches across eight states, Infinity Fincorp claims to have grown its loan book to INR 1,100+ crores as of January 2025.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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