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Press release: Lidya Raises $6.9 Million in a Series A Round Led by Omidyar Network
Lidya, the digital financial services platform focused on improving access to credit for micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Africa, today announced that it has raised $6.9 million in a Series A investment round, one of the largest in Nigerian tech history
- Source
- Press release
- Categories
- Inclusive Fintech, Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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China’s Major Tech Firms Will Dominate SE Asia’s Emerging Markets: Who Wins And Who Loses?
Digital behemoths Alibaba and Tencent are expanding their e-commerce, cloud and data capabilities across the SEA region, which has a rapidly growing population of more than half a billion people.
- Categories
- Inclusive Fintech, Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
- Tags
- Alibaba, APAC, China, digital revolution, e-commerce, fintech, MSMEs, public policy, SEA, small business, technology, Tencent
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‘The Dumbest Waste of Time Ever’: How the Development Sector is Failing MSMEs
Low-income business owners often keep poor records and don't always keep close tabs on their profits versus expenses – a side effect of by-necessity entrepreneurship. Global development organizations naturally want to help - yet too many programs offer skills development as one-off training. According to business development consultant Donna Rosa, helping entrepreneurs create business plans only to abandon them to fend for themselves is "the dumbest waste of time ever." She explains why in this thought-provoking post.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Entrepreneurship, Investing
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We’re Undervaluing Value Addition: How Ag Processing Will Fortify Food Security, Incomes and Development
The world's cocoa farmers get only 3 percent of the value of a chocolate bar, and Africa, home to 60 percent of the world’s arable land, is a net importer of food that could be processed at lower cost on the continent. The problem is that agriculture producers in emerging markets grow the crops only to watch as others grab the profits. The solution, says Donna Rosa, is to improve the solid food processing industries in developing countries.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Entrepreneurship
- Tags
- agribusiness, agriculture, Base of the Pyramid, business development, entrepreneurship, farmers, farming, global agriculture, government, lending, microcredit, microfinance, MSMEs, small and medium enterprises, smallholder farmers, social enterprise, social entrepreneur, social entrepreneurship, social impact
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Report: Improved financial inclusion could boost global bank revenues by US$200b
Driving greater financial inclusion – the availability of affordable, accessible and relevant financial products – will generate sizeable economic benefits, according to the report, boosting GDP by up to 14% in developing economies such as India, and 30% in frontier markets such as Kenya.
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Press release: Visa Launches Foundation With Inaugural Grant to Women’s World Banking
At the heart of the Visa Foundation is the belief that micro and small enterprises are the backbone of the global economy. In fact, small and medium enterprises account for more than 90 percent of enterprises worldwide, and contribute 50-60 percent of global employment. However, these segments struggle to access the financial tools, capital and training programs required to enable them to fully thrive. The Visa Foundation’s core mission is to support efforts to rectify this imbalance.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship
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Why Fintech Startups Are Wooing India’s Small Businesses
Manjunatha BN runs a music store called Sri Sai Musicals in Bangalore. He needed a loan of $7,800 (5 lakh rupees). Unsure of getting one from a bank, he decided to approach Bangalore-based digital lender Capital Float. To his surprise, he received his loan in no time.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- financial technology, fintech, India, lending, microlending, MSMEs, SME finance, SMEs
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Stakeholders advocate bespoke intervention schemes for MSMEs
According to the stakeholders, MSMEs are the first responders to societal needs and are responsible for significant employment and income generation opportunities across the world even as they have been identified as a major driver of poverty alleviation and development.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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