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Press release: IFC invests $100 million in Mahindra Finance for loans to farmers
“Since its inception in 1991, Mahindra Finance has been working in the rural and semi-urban areas of India, catalyzing financial inclusion of the unbanked and under-served communities and also partnering with them in their difficult times. Our focus has been on enabling these customers with innovative financial solutions, tailor made to their evolving needs” said Ramesh Iyer, Vice-Chairman & Managing Director, Mahindra Finance.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- South Asia
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Adversary to Ally: Why My Social Enterprise Joined Forces with a Competitor
"Collaboration" is a popular buzzword in the social impact sector, but many energy access firms ventures invariably find themselves vying with one another for customers and resources. Anya Cherneff, founder of Empower Generation, chose a different direction to grow her business' mission of empowering rural female entrepreneurs: She joined forces with Pollinate Energy – a key competitor. Cherneff discusses the decision – and its ongoing impact on both companies – in this insightful post.
- Categories
- Energy, Social Enterprise
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Viewpoint: The Future of International Development: South-South Cooperation
The Western development system has largely been premised on the flow of knowledge and financing from the “Global North” to the “Global South” with the goal of assisting in driving economic development and poverty alleviation. Ironically, the expertise flowing from the “developed” world represents best practices from countries that have never been able to solve their own poverty.
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Press release: Village Enterprise Promotes Campaign to End Poverty in Times Square
"Village Enterprise provides rural Africans living in extreme poverty with the tools and resources they need to start sustainable businesses and savings groups," said Village Enterprise CEO Dianne Calvi. "With the profits and savings from their businesses, entrepreneurs can send their children to school, feed their families more nutritious food, and break cycles of poverty that can span generations."
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Meat Every Day: How a Rwandan Entrepreneur Aims to Satisfy Africa’s Changing Appetites
Some predict that, by the end of the century, 13 African cities will surpass New York City in population. As African economies grow and their citizens become more urbanized, their standards of living and meat consumption are also likely to increase. This shift will reshape the continent's agriculture industry – and entrepreneurs like Herve Tuyishime are responding. Tuyishime explains how his two interrelated businesses are helping satisfy Africans' growing appetite for meat, and bringing Rwandan farmers into the supply chain.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Social Enterprise
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Powering the World’s Poorer Economies: A Response to Bill Gates and Jigar Shah
Microsoft founder Bill Gates and SunEdison founder Jigar Shah have clashed in a heated debate over the best way to provide energy access to the world’s poor.
- Categories
- Energy
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Is Financial Inclusion Stalling? The 2017 Findex Results Raise Several Red Flags
The Global Financial Inclusion Database (Findex) - one of the most authoritative yardsticks on the state of financial inclusion - finds that 69 percent of the world’s adults now have bank or mobile money accounts. But while that's an exciting headline, it's also misleading, as millions of those newly opened accounts are lying dormant. And that's just one reason why industry stakeholders have found the latest Findex data underwhelming. Elisabeth Rhyne and Sonja Kelly at the Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion unpack some of the troubling stats – and highlight a few bright spots.
- Categories
- Finance
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Press release: CGAP Launches New Five-Year Strategy
In addressing the CGAP Annual Meeting, CGAP CEO Greta Bull said: "Our new strategy Is centered around helping poor people adapt to the disruptive forces in an increasingly digital world. Poor people know that financial services can help them manage their lives more securely. It is our job to make sure that we make financial services available, affordable and useful so that poor people can capture opportunities and build resilience."
- Categories
- Finance
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