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The Clear Blue Water on the Other Side of the Digital Divide
Digital financial exclusion represents both a development challenge for poor customers, and a missed opportunity for providers, says MicroSave founder Graham Wright. While providers fight for a share of the most profitable and easiest-to-reach markets, they often overlook the vast commercial potential of lower-income communities – in territory that is largely not competed. Wright explores how to tap into this "fiercely loyal" market.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Investment = Inclusion: Can Fintech, With a Boost from Investors, Level the Playing Field for the Unbanked in Africa?
Fintech – particularly mobile finance – is increasingly vital to Africa's economic growth. But despite the continent's impressive mobile money penetration, much of its population remains unbanked or underbanked. That’s why it’s so encouraging to see another trend developing in tandem with Africans’ embrace of fintech: namely, investors’ embrace of African fintech companies. Iftin Fatah at OPIC explores why more investment means more digital financial inclusion.
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Mastercard unveils mobile order and pay system for Nairobi kiosk owners
Kionect, technology from Mastercard, provides a digital log of transaction data that qualifies these micro-retailers for loans to stock inventory from Musoni, a regional micro-finance provider. With every loan that is paid on time, the kiosk owner has the opportunity to take out a larger loan for a longer term and further contribute to the growth of their business.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- fintech, mobile finance
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The Curious Case of Myanmar: Can the Country Leapfrog to Digital Financial Inclusion?
Fueled by years of repressed demand, cheap Chinese phones, softening regulations and an aggressive push by the country’s mobile network operators, Myanmar leapfrogged from practically zero phones to almost exclusively smartphones. Looking at this stark contrast, a natural question arises – can Myanmar leapfrog from financial exclusion to "digital" financial inclusion, just as it did in telecom?
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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The Longest Last Mile: Are India’s Poor Ready for Digital Financial Services?
With the Indian government working to transform the country into a digital economy, the focus of financial inclusion is heavily inclined toward digital financial services for all. But are India’s poor ready for this shift? Anoushaka Chandrashekar and Misha Sharma at IFMR LEAD argue that poor customers are far from reaching this stage, and that policymakers and practitioners should focus on access and usage, rather than introducing digital products that very few people use.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Designing a Mobile Wallet for Nonliterate People: A Beginner’s Guide
There are about a billion adults in the world who can neither read nor write, but they manage to participate fully in the economy. As fintech evolves, the financial services sector must keep this significant population in mind. Vivek Anand and Saborni Poddar of MicroSave explore what designers should keep in mind when devising a mobile wallet interface for literate and illiterate customers alike.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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From Smart Meters to ‘Water ATMs’: Innovative Solutions to Bring Water Services to Rural Africa
An estimated 663 million people lack access to clean and safe drinking water in the world today. Innovations such as smart metering services are being tested to enhance access to water. However, these solutions have not been widely adopted across Africa, except at some water vending points. George Muruka at MicroSave explores how these innovations can be scaled up to the household level.
- Categories
- Technology, WASH
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Fixing Financial Inclusion’s Gender Gap: Fast-Growing ‘Community of Practice’ Seeks Solutions
One billion women living in the poorest 40 percent of developing-country households remain outside the formal financial system. A persistent gender gap in developing countries in account ownership rates suggests that efforts at financial inclusion are not reaching women. In an effort to change that, CGAP recently launched the Women’s Financial Inclusion Community of Practice to bring together practitioners, funders and policymakers.
- Categories
- Finance
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