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Making This Year Better Than the Last: A Recent Survey Assesses the Pandemic’s Impacts on Micro and Small Businesses
Micro and small businesses dealt with massive challenges during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic, and even those that adapted and survived still face major struggles. Juan Carlos Thomas at TechnoServe shares the results of a recent study on COVID-19's impact on these enterprises, and explores how his organization has been supporting them – including through a crisis toolkit that helps them weather the pandemic's challenges, and through digital tools focused on business training and access to finance.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Technology, Transportation
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MarketForce Secures $2 Million Pre-series A Round, Plans to Launch in Nigeria and Scale Up RejaReja in East Africa
MarketForce aims to digitize offline transactions and transform how informal retail merchants buy and sell.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Drip Capital Partners SBM Bank India on Trade Finance
Drip Capital, a fintech provider of cross-border trade finance, has partnered SBM Bank India to offer trade financing solutions customized for small and medium-sized exporters in India.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Analysis: World MSME Day 2021: Putting MSMEs at the Heart of Inclusive and Sustainable Recovery
Although some firms have been able to do well, across the board, MSMEs are reeling under the pandemic with widespread losses in terms of sales, profits and employment.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Health Care
- Region
- Asia Pacific
- Tags
- manufacturing, MSMEs
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Press Release: Expanding Digital and Financial Inclusion: World Bank Supports Morocco’s Reforms for Social and Economic Resilience
The World Bank today approved a US $450 million loan to support momentum in Morocco for reforms designed to increase public access to financial and digital services.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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Press Release: G7 Development Finance Institutions and Multilateral Partners to Invest over $80 Billion into African Businesses over the Next Five Years
The G7 DFIs, the IFC, the private sector arm of the African Development Bank, EBRD, and the EIB today announced that they were committed to investing $80 billion in the private sector over the next five years to support sustainable economic recovery and growth in Africa.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance, Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Impact Investing in Financial Inclusion in Southeast Asia: Four Key Considerations for Investors and Enterprises
Southeast Asian nations are seeing movement toward greater financial inclusion, but this growth, fueled mostly by digital innovations, is not enough to meet customer needs, say Komal Sahu and Danielle Todesco of AVPN. They share four key considerations that investors and enterprises can take into account to promote interoperability, financial literacy and product accessibility while boosting financial access in the region.
- Categories
- Finance, Investing, Social Enterprise
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Adapting to Survive: New Study Reveals the Importance of Digital Payments to Small and Micro Businesses in Mexico
An estimated 95% of businesses around the world are micro, small and medium enterprises, and they've been hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 crisis. Devin Olmack and Ashley Speyer at 60 Decibels discuss a new study of 750+ small and micro businesses owners in Mexico, which illustrates how digital payments can help these businesses grow and weather unpredictable storms like the pandemic. They share personal stories of small business owners who have benefited from digital payment systems, and detail some remaining obstacles and opportunities for growth.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance