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Don’t Fear the Rate Cap: Why Cambodia’s Microcredit Regulations Aren’t Such a Bad Thing
The Cambodian government recently shocked its microcredit industry by capping interest rates at 18 percent – about half the current rate of most loans. Many analysts sympathetic to the industry have strongly criticized the move, but Milford Bateman argues it's actually an important step in protecting the poor – and resolving an "existential crisis" in a sector plagued by unsustainable growth and high over-indebtedness.
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- Uncategorized
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Will Move to Cap Microfinance Interest Rates Backfire in Cambodia?
Some analysts say the move is unlikely to help reduce poverty, and could throw the country’s microfinance system into disarray.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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- microfinance, regulations
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Social Business Roundup: A $1 Smartphone, the Upshot of Disparity and the Quizzing of Presidents
If you manufacture a phone that comes with apps advertising to low-income consumers, can you sell it for as little as $1? The folks at SocialEco think so. Other items NextBillion's editors came across for this week's Roundup included a concentration on wealth concentration, an unhappy birthday for M-Pesa, plus a presidential Q that will hopefully result in an A.
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- Health Care, Technology
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Find Good Partners and Don’t Quit: Lessons from a Water-Ag Innovator
Bart A.J. de Jonge and Si Technologies came up with a way to protect farmers around the world and their crops against increasingly common droughts that devastate local communities. He wanted to get the product in the hands of hands of millions of subsistence farmers quickly, but it took years, for a variety of reasons. Here, he offers advice to other social entrepreneurs, including this: "Change is a long haul, but don’t give up."
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- Agriculture
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A Tale of Four IPOs: Is Public Investment in Microfinance Becoming OK Again?
Initial public offerings have long been a controversial topic in microfinance, and rightly so. The early IPOs of Compartamos and SKS Microfinance made a lot of money for investors and turbocharged the sector's growth, but also sparked hyper commercialization and debt crises that rocked the industry. But last year, two Indian MFIs had successful IPOs that have garnered a much more positive reception. We spoke with Daniel Rozas of the European Microfinance Platform and Anna Kanze of Grassroots Capital Management about how these four offerings differed, and what they could mean for the future of public investment in microfinance, in this podcast.
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- Investing
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To save its currency, Nigeria’s central bank wants people jailed for holding on to US dollars
Nigeria has tried a range of strategies to stem a trouble currency slide as well as manage its mounting economic crisis. The latest strategy could see it jail its own citizens.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- regulations
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Prepaid Debit Cards Users in U.S. Will Get New Federal Protections
Prepaid debit cards are a financial lifeline for many people, but a risky one. They lack many of the basic consumer protections that credit cards and bank debit cards are required to offer. That will change next year, with a raft of new federal rules intended to clamp down on a product that has been growing rapidly despite concerns about high fees, poor disclosures and weak protections for customers when something goes wrong.
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A Bridge Too Far? Bridge International Academies Responds to Ugandan Government’s Allegations and Closure Plans
The Ugandan government recently announced plans to close Bridge International Academies, the celebrated for-profit school company operating in Africa. Uganda's education minister claims that the schools “showed poor hygiene and sanitation which put the life and safety of the school children in danger.” Bridge vehemently denies these charges, and we talked to the company about where things stand.
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- Education, Social Enterprise