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Digital Lending Post COVID: How Micro-Credit Holds the Key for Small Merchants, Customers to Bounce Back
Credit and Finance for MSMEs: Digital lending platforms with the principles of financial inclusivity will emerge as the heroes of the financial crisis.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance
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The Path to the COVID Recovery Is Paved With Renewable Energy
Harish Hande is an engineer and social entrepreneur working with underserved communities. He is the co-founder of SELCO whose interventions have impacted more than 800,000 poor households across 6 Indian states. We caught up with him a couple of weeks ago to reflect on the relevance of sustainable energy during the Covid pandemic and after.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Energy
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- MSMEs, renewable energy
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Mastercard Report: Pay-on-Demand Will Drive Financial Inclusion in Africa
The Pay-on-Demand solution model will continue to drive digital and financial inclusion across African countries, according to a recent research report released by MasterCard.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- financial inclusion, MSMEs
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Sizing the ‘Grey Economy’: Using Geospatial Data to Uncover the True Extent of the MSME Sector in Emerging Markets
The micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) sector is a major employer in many emerging economies – but exactly how big? And how many jobs is it producing? According to Obert Maposa at FinMark Trust, those are hard questions to answer – but advancements in technology and geospatial data modeling are improving our understanding of the sector. He explores how FinMark Trust has leveraged these tools in Malawi, and why the model holds promise for other countries.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Tags
- business development, data, MSMEs, research
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How E-commerce Platforms Are Facilitating Small Business Owners for Selling Online in India
E-commerce players are expanding beyond metropolitan cities to bring innovative sellers’ products on their platforms.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- e-commerce, MSMEs
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Asian Development Bank Approves $25M Loan to Support Women-Led SMEs
Access to finance is very limited in Pakistan, with only 21.3% of adults and only 7% of women over the age of 15 having bank accounts in fiscal year 2017, according to available data.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- South Asia
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‘Financial Innovation’ is no Frankenstein: How Impact Investors and Inclusive Finance Innovators Are Redefining the Term
For many, the words "financial innovation" spark memories of the banking malfeasance that led to the 2008 financial crisis. But as Paul Hailey at responsAbility Investments sees it, financial innovation has come a long way since then. He argues that innovative new investment products don't have to be "a monster lurching towards the village," and explores how they can enable both financial inclusion and investor returns.
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MSMEs Are the Backbone of Developing Economies: New Research Shows How Digital Platforms Can Boost Their Impact
To keep pace with the growing youth population, 600 million new jobs must be created globally over the next 15 years. Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) will be key to that effort, say Alina Kaiser at Caribou Digital and Annabel Schiff at the Mastercard Foundation’s FiDA Partnership. They explore how digital platforms can boost MSMEs in emerging markets, based on learnings from 27 micro-entrepreneurs in Kenya.
- Categories
- Technology