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Why Mobile Money Growth Remains Stunted in Nigeria
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) published the Financial Inclusion Strategy (FIS) setting financial inclusion target of 80 percent realisation this year. Due to challenges within the system, the apex bank revised it last year to 95 percent by 2024. Mobile money, a veritable tool for achieving this ambitious goal, remains in the limbo because of certain factors.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Avoiding Another Crash: How Global Standards Set after the 2008 Crisis Prepared the Financial System to Weather COVID-19
International standard-setting bodies have been working to strengthen global financial stability ever since the 2008 crisis. And according to Robin Newnham at the Alliance for Financial Inclusion, they are now playing vitally important roles in the global response to COVID-19. He explores how the global financial system is seeing the benefits of the reforms of the past decade – and how these efforts can expand in the future.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance
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India’s Self-Help Groups Need Help: How to Strengthen a Proven Model to Support Women’s Recovery From the COVID-19 Crisis
Women’s empowerment is a growing focus in the development sector, but COVID-19 is putting the hard-won progress women have made in recent years at risk. Moin Qazi highlights one way to support women in emerging countries: the self-help group model. He discusses how these groups operate in India, their strengths and weaknesses, and how they could be leveraged to address the current crisis.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Education, Finance, Impact Assessment
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A Sector in Ruins or ‘Building Back Better’? Findings From e-MFP’s Covid-19 Financial Inclusion Compass
With the COVID-19 pandemic and the global recession it has triggered, the financial inclusion sector is facing perhaps the greatest crisis in its modern history. In response, the European Microfinance Platform repurposed this year's Financial Inclusion Compass survey for this critical moment. Sam Mendelson discusses the results, and what they say about the sector's priorities, challenges and prospects for recovery.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance, Investing
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The Future of Microfinance: An Interview With Ira W. Lieberman
Though its profile is somewhat lower than in its heyday, microfinance remains a relevant player in the development sector, supporting some 200 million people worldwide. A new book, “The Future of Microfinance,” contemplates the industry's tumultuous evolution and future development. NextBillion spoke with Ira W. Lieberman, a co-editor of the book, to discuss its thought-provoking insights.
- Categories
- Finance
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Press Release: Grameen America Receives $25 Million Grant From Mackenzie Scott
Transformational Gift will Accelerate Financial Inclusion for Low-Income Minority Women Entrepreneurs
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- North America
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Microfinance Loans Could Spell Disaster in the Time of Coronavirus
Such loans have undoubtedly helped many people. Yet the capacity of microfinance to "make poverty history" has been repeatedly called into question by researchers.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance
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Review of Microfinance Studies Finds Many Flaws, No Conclusions
What do we know about microfinance—often touted as the solution for the economic woes of developing countries? Practically nothing, say researchers from UConn's Department of Agricultural and Resources and Economics.
- Categories
- Finance, Impact Assessment