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PayGo vs. MFIs: What Works Better for Energy Access Consumer Financing – And Does it Have to Be Either/Or?
Many last-mile customers can’t afford clean energy products without financial solutions to help pay for them. Energy enterprises often meet this need in two different ways: by partnering with microfinance institutions (MFIs) to provide loans to customers, or by offering pay-as-you-go (PayGo) financing options. The United Nations Capital Development Fund’s CleanStart program has supported energy providers using both of these models, and Teresa Le, an energy finance consultant at the program, explores their relative merits and challenges.
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Step by Step Credit: Empowering the Unbanked through Progressive Finance
Despite notable progress in the financial inclusion sector, widespread, permanent change remains elusive. The good news, says Aristotle Socrates at Juvo, is that not only is this change possible, but everything we need to make it happen already exists. In fact, it might be as easy as setting aside long-held assumptions about the role of wealth and income in establishing credit. He outlines how improved data infrastructure is connecting lenders to creditworthy customers, producing big gains for both providers and the financially excluded in the developing world.
- Categories
- Finance
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Report: Nigeria lagging behind in financial inclusion, mobile money
An International Finance Corporation report says Nigeria is lagging behind its peers in sub-Saharan Africa in terms of financial inclusion and mobile money.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Uganda’s finance minister says mobile money tax may be reviewed
Uganda’s finance minister told journalists on Monday that a new tax on mobile money transactions in the country that was approved by parliament last week, is different from what the cabinet agreed.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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A Test Case for Digital Leap-Frogging: What the Financial Inclusion Community Can Learn from Vietnam
With its rapid economic expansion, large unbanked population, high mobile penetration and progressive regulations, Vietnam has the potential to leap-frog over brick-and-mortar banking and arrive directly at the forefront of digital finance. Krishna Thacker of MetLife Foundation in Asia profiles an emerging innovator in the country's mobile payments space, and explores lessons learned in driving the uptake of digital financial services.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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MyBucks and Naga Group Team Up to Bring Cryptocurrencies to Emerging Markets
Fintech firms MyBucks and the Naga Group have announced a new partnership to implement Naga’s cryptocurrency wallet within MyBucks’ client interface and existing mobile wallet, enabling some 1.5 million users across Africa, Australia and other countries to manage, send and receive cryptocurrencies.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Uber rival Grab acquires Indian startup to bulk up its mobile payment platform
The deal — which is undisclosed — will see iKaaz’s engineering team join the Bangalore-based engineering office which Grab opened last year. The firm declined to say how many new recruits are moving over from iKaaz, but a spokesperson disclosed that Grab currently has 75 engineers in Bangalore with plans to grow the number to 200 before this year.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Uber rival Go-Jek drives payments push with acquisition of three fintech start-ups
Go-Jek said the acquisition move would bolster its activity in both online and offline payments, as well as increase engagement in the financial services in Indonesia. Go-Jek's mobile payments service Go-Pay is one of the most popular payment platforms in Indonesia.
- Categories
- Finance
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