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Revisiting our Assumptions About Digital Financial Inclusion: Three Unexpected Findings from BFA’s FIBR Project
When BFA launched its FIBR (Financial Inclusion on Business Runways) R&D project four years ago, it outlined a set of assumptions about how smartphones, increased connectivity and digitization would help to accelerate financial inclusion for small businesses in Africa. As the project wraps up, BFA Founder and Chair David Porteous explores which of those assumptions still hold – and which need to be reassessed as unanticipated developments have reshaped the market.
- Categories
- Finance
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Building Financial Stability: Can Liquid Savings Help Recession-Proof the Economy?
Though the U.S. economy is experiencing a historic expansion, stock market jitters and other recent developments have some economists predicting a recession. And according to Mariel Beasley at Common Cents Lab and Timothy Flacke at Commonwealth, cracks have been forming beneath the surface of the economy for a long time. They explore the surprising financial insecurity facing American households, and explain why short-term, liquid savings could help mitigate the effects of a future recession before it begins.
- Categories
- Finance
- Tags
- financial health, research, savings
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‘You Hired me as a Ballerina and Now Want Me to be a Basketball Player’: Hard Truths About Evolving Talent at Scale
Does your talent strategy look the same as it did a year ago? If it does, you're probably doing it wrong – especially if your organization is scaling. According to Kimberly Langsam at CASE at Duke University, a growing organization's talent strategies and support infrastructure must constantly evolve. She explores why talent is one of the key challenges of scale, and shares insights from social entrepreneurs and others featured in a new report from the Scaling Pathways series.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
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The Missing Piece of the Fintech Puzzle: How Local, Informal Networks Play a Crucial Role in Remittances
The spread of fintech is bringing millions of emerging markets customers – and their relations – into the realm of formal finance. But though they're powered by futuristic technologies, fintech initiatives are often built on complex community networks and informal methods of transacting that have existed for centuries. Researchers Daivi Rodima Taylor and Bill Maurer explore the implications of these roles, relationships and social intermediaries for financial service design.
- Categories
- Finance
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Universities Must Teach Their Budding Scientists Entrepreneurship
As Africa continues to develop, there will be growing demand for experts who can address its social and economic needs. According to professors Karl Kunert and Christopher Cullis, the region's budding scientists can help meet that demand by acquiring business-oriented skills - but these skills aren’t usually part of their training. They explore the benefits of teaching students to turn scientific innovations into business opportunities, and the key role universities can play.
- Categories
- Education
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Low Energy Consumption = Unprofitable Mini-Grids. Is Appliance Financing the Answer?
Over 600 million Africans live without electricity, and mini-grids are a cheap solution to bring power to at least 100 million of them. But the mini-grid business model is not yet sustainable. This is due in part to low levels of energy consumption by rural customers, who often can't afford the high upfront costs of appliances that would increase their energy usage. Analysts at CrossBoundary explore new research on whether offering financing for household appliances can help overcome this barrier.
- Categories
- Energy
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What’s the Point of Investing in Financial Inclusion? A New Review Aims to Help Investors Maximize Their Impact
Is social investment in financial systems and services justified? It's a natural question when considering the financial inclusion sector’s development, say Timothy Ogden at the Financial Access Initiative and Machal Karim at CDC Group. And it’s not just critical microcredit studies that have raised the question: The history of social investment in financial systems doesn’t yield many obvious success stories. They discuss a new review of the theory and empirical evidence – both positive and negative – for investing in financial systems as a development strategy.
- Categories
- Finance
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Staying Ahead of the Technical Assistance Curve: Six Lessons from Fintech Startups in India
India is at the forefront of inclusive fintech innovation. But it’s often difficult for Indian fintech startups to build and grow their businesses, while distributing the benefits of their work among their low-and middle-income (LMI) customers. MicroSave Consulting (MSC) is participating in a Financial Inclusion Lab, providing technical assistance to fintech startups serving India’s LMI segment. Authors at MSC share six key insights from their work that could be helpful both to startups, and to the investors, consultants and other organizations that support them.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology