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Safaricom Deal to Allow Diaspora to Send Money to M-Pesa Accounts
According to the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), last year’s diaspora remittances reached US$1.3 billion (KSh112 billion), up from US$1.17 billion (KSh101 billion) in 2012.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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West Africa: Breaking the Cycle of Youth Unemployment, Poverty
Youth unemployment and underemployment are among the main barriers to development in West Africa, say experts. Not only does the exclusion of young people from the labour force perpetuate generational cycles of poverty, it also breaks down social cohesion and can be associated with higher levels of crime and violence among idle youth.
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- Environment
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Don’t charge to enlarge: the effect of interest rate changes on microfinance access
A STORY in the finance section this week looks at what has happened to microfinance interest rates. To summarise briefly: we argue that as microfinance for the very poorest borrowers has expanded, microfinance institutions (MFIs) have had to raise their rates. As MFIs target poorer, less reliable customers, they need to charge higher rates to cover increased defaults and steeper funding costs.
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Is Africa ‘Rising’ or ‘Falling’? : The question is not which narrative is true, but which will win?
Is Africa rising or falling? Over the last 50 years, the answer to this question has been debated and examined from every angle. Reports such as Legatum’s Insight on Africa and conferences such as the Sankalp Africa Summit attempt to provide the data, context, and insight required to understand both the challenges and opportunities facing the world’s most dynamic continent.
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- Education
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Banking for All – Drive to ensure world’s poor have access to accounts
For banks, there is the chance to harvest the deposits of millions of new customers and establish a presence in small but fast-growing markets.
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- Uncategorized
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Breaking Down Development Myths: Metrics and data demolishing poverty misconceptions
As you might have seen, Bill and Melinda Gates recently released the 2014 edition of their annual Letter. This year, the theme of the correspondence was ‘Mythbusters’ – tackling the misconceptions and beliefs about development in the most powerful way possible: with data and real evidence.
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Weekly Roundup 2/1/14: Us and Them: Poverty goes mainstream in the U.S. – can financial innovation help?
The majority of Americans will spend at least a year in or near poverty between the ages of 25 and 60. And four out of five will encounter one or more poverty-related conditions in their lifetime. It’s clear that poverty isn’t just a major problem in the developing world. That’s why NextBillion is expanding our coverage to forward-thinking business solutions to domestic poverty.
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- Impact Assessment
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Poor service: Tiny loans are getting more expensive
INTEREST on the minuscule loans made by microfinance outfits has always been high, but over the past few years it has become even higher. A recent paper, using data on over 1,500 microfinance institutions (MFIs) from around the world, shows that for the smallest loans, typically less than $150, the average rate climbed steadily from 30% in 2004 to 35% in 2011.*
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