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Outgrowing the Flower Pot: Why Just Selling Productive Equipment to Smallholder Farmers is Not Enough
A new wave of companies are bringing equipment powered by renewable, decentralized energy to smallholders, and these devices can significantly boost farmers' yields and product quality. But as Daniel Waldron, Christopher Emmott, Priyanka Dudeja, Paraag Sabhlok and Chris Wayne at Acumen explain, just like a tree growing in a flower pot, this new growth can become a burden if it has nowhere to go. They argue that productive equipment must be combined with market access interventions to truly benefit smallholders, and highlight two innovative companies that are demonstrating the impact of this approach.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, Investing, Social Enterprise, Technology
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Nigerian Credit-Led Fintech FairMoney Acquires PayForce in Retail-Merchant Banking Play
Nigerian credit-led digital banking platform FairMoney has acquired PayForce (sub-brand of YC-backed CrowdForce).
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- digital finance, fintech, MSMEs
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Switzerland Pledges 15 Million Francs to the Bamboo-UNCDF Initiative for the Least Developed Fund
The BUILD Fund is a unique investment fund in support of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in least developed and lower middle income countries (LDCs and LMICs).
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Global
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Understanding Deglobalization: What the Backlash to Trade Liberalization Means for Business Growth and Global Inequality
Extensive trade liberalization, often referred to as globalization, was one of the most transformative economic events of the last century — and also one of the most controversial. As political support for protectionist policies grows, Aishwarya Lakshmi Ratan at Yale Economic Growth Center and Bomi Okuyiga at Yale's Jackson School of Global Affairs share research insights that help illuminate the impact globalization has had on businesses and workers in low- and middle-income countries, with the goal of understanding how they may be affected by the current backlash.
- Categories
- Technology
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Report: India’s Woman Entrepreneurs Are More Likely to Get Loans Than Men
The number of women seeking business loans has tripled in the past five years.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Enstack Raises $3 Million to Help Digitize SMEs
The funding round will support its goal of digitizing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Philippines and across Southeast Asia.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Press Release: Fintech Startup Uplinq Partners with the SME Finance Forum, Managed by the IFC
Uplinq, the first global credit assessment and scoring platform for SMB lenders, today announced a partnership with the SME Finance Forum, a global network aimed at expanding finance to small and medium businesses (SMEs).
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Global
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Trade Finance Platform Marco Gets $200 Million Line of Credit, Focuses on Latin America – US
Trade finance platform Marco says it has raised $200 million in a line of credit from MidCap Financial and Castlelake.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Latin America
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