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Taking Financial Inclusion Data to the Next Level: National data is useful – but it’s not enough
The era of “big data” has fully arrived in the financial inclusion industry. But while existing data platforms are beginning to fill the gaps in national measures of inclusion, this information may not reflect the situation on the ground. That's why the next iteration of financial inclusion data needs to drill down to the subnational level to increase clarity around financial service access, usage and quality.
- Categories
- Education
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DKM Microfinance Saga in Ghana: Three Die in Nkoranza
Frustrated customers of financial companies with frozen accounts have vowed to make Nkoranza a living hell for government employees if monies lodged with the microfinance companies are not released to them.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- lending, microfinance
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Viewpoint: The Case for Islamic Microfinance in Africa
Professor Badr El Din A. Ibrahim, President of the Microfinance Unit at the Central Bank of Sudan, discusses why Shari'ah-compliant financing is key.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Mobile Lender InVenture Raises $10 Million
InVenture Capital Corp., a provider of small loans by cellphones, has raised $10 million in Series A funding, Yuliya Chernova reports for Dow Jones VentureWire. The company has a mobile app that can be downloaded by users, who then can request a loan. Once the user has granted the app access to their device, the company’s algorithm evaluates the activity on their mobile money accounts, such as how much they deposit and withdraw, the timeliness of their utility bill payments, and thousands of other nuggets of information such as social media, demographic, and communications patterns, to make a loan decision in minutes. The company currently operates in Kenya and Tanzania. Data Collective led the Series A round, which includedLowercase Capital, Collaborative Fund, Female Founders Fund and individual investors.
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- Uncategorized
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OPINION: Microfinance has a part to play in fighting terrorism
"I absolutely believe that business, done in a responsible way, is a credible alternative to delivering up your kids to being radicalized," says FINCA president Rupert Scofield.
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- Uncategorized
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India’s microfinance institutions see gross loan growth of 69% in the previous quarter
Microfinance institutions saw a healthy 69% growth in their gross loan portfolio in the April June quarter compared to that in the same period of last year.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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Weekly Roundup – 8/28/15: Will microfinance take on the ‘randomistas’?
Our finance editor discusses an online dispute between two global development heavyweights, which highlighted the growing tension between the microfinance sector and the poverty researchers who have increasingly called its impact into question. And our health care editor weighed in on another bout: The e-cigarette vs. traditional tobacco cancer stick industry in the developing world.
- Categories
- Health Care
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Tough Challenges Await India’s Chandrashekhar Ghosh’s Bandhan in Its Commercial Bank Avtaar
On Sunday, Kolkata-based microfinance institution (MFI), Bandhan Financial Services formally converted itself into a full service commercial bank, thus becoming the latest private sector bank in the country. Bandhan is one of the two entities, which were given full-service banking licences by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in April, 2014, from a list of 25 aspirants that included big business houses. The other is IDFC.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia