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Mastercard Launches Wallet Pay to Scale Digital Wallets Worldwide
Harnessing the industry’s most advanced capabilities, Mastercard Wallet Pay solutions empower wallet providers to deliver frictionless experiences — from everyday spending to cross-border transfers – meeting the demands of a rapidly expanding digital economy.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Global
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Mastercard and Flowcart Join Forces to Power Secure Card Payments Into Social Commerce in East Africa
"The initiative will unlock new opportunities for social sellers, creators and SMEs in mobile-first markets by reducing the need for external websites or payment links."
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Designing Credit Systems for Informal Economies: Why More Data Alone Is Not Enough
The global financing gap for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) is estimated in the trillions. As Ayokunmi Sodamola argues, the reason for this gap is not that these enterprises exhibit poor financial behaviors — or even that there’s a lack of data that can be used to establish their creditworthiness. It's that standard credit assessment systems aren't designed to capture and interpret the data generated by their informal financial activities. He explores how lenders can build a more integrated approach that treats data, identity, trust, risk and incentives as interconnected layers of a single credit system.
- Categories
- Finance
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MTN Targets Nigeria’s $236 Billion Credit Gap as its $500 Billion MoMo Business Pushes into Lending
MTN Group is moving to turn its African mobile-money empire into something much bigger than a payments business, as the telecoms giant prepares to separate its fintech operations in Nigeria and Uganda, bring in strategic investors, and push into lending across some of the continent’s most underbanked markets.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology, Telecommunications
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Courageous Capital: How Africa Built its Own Tech Ecosystem
Africa’s tech sector has been thriving for almost three decades, during which its entrepreneurs have quietly built a self-sustaining ecosystem. And as Marsha Wulff at LoftyInc Capital explains, instead of government and charitable institutions taking the lead, it has been Africa’s own innovators who have developed its tech infrastructure and driven its commercial success. She explores how African entrepreneurs and investors have built a vibrant and resilient tech ecosystem that addresses the continent's unique needs — and taps its massive growth potential.
- Categories
- Investing, Technology
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The Myths and Realities of Inclusive Insurance: Lessons from the Field
Across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), insurance penetration is around 1% of GDP, compared to a global average of around 7%. According to Rehan Butt at Instaful Solutions, policymakers, donors and insurers have increasingly turned to “inclusive insurance” to reach LMIC customers — yet they often mistakenly approach it as a scaled down or charitable version of traditional insurance. He argues that inclusive insurance represents a fundamentally different business model, with distinct product design, processes, distribution and economics, and highlights some misconceptions that can cause these insurance products and programs to underperform.
- Categories
- Finance
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South African Anti-Fraud Startup Orca Secures $2.35 Million Seed Round to Protect Emerging Market Payment Rails
As financial inclusion accelerates across Africa, largely driven by mobile money and e-wallets, cybercrime has followed suit. According to an Interpol report, South Africa was the most cyber-attacked country on the continent and the third most globally in 2021.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Airtel Africa Eyes Starlink, IPO, and Crypto Push
If Airtel successfully blends satellite coverage, mobile money scale, and eventually crypto rails, it could reshape competition not just in Kenya, but across its entire African footprint.
- Categories
- Technology, Telecommunications
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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