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Viewpoint: Cambodia’s interest rate cap will hurt rural families
On March 13, the National Bank of Cambodia announced a major new policy. Starting April 1, all microfinance institution operating in Cambodia will be required to lend at interest rates no higher than 18 percent per year. This is a deeply misguided regulation that will undo over a decade’s worth of successful financial policies.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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World Bank Announces $57 Billion Fresh Investment in Nigeria, 52 Others
The World Bank, yesterday, announced fresh investment of $57 billion in Nigeria and the 2 other countries in the sub-Saharan African region. This was disclosed in a statement issued by the global multilateral agency after a meeting with G20 finance ministers and central bank governors.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Three Leading Organizations In Africa And The Mastercard Foundation Partner To Improve Livelihoods For 1.1 Million African Smallholder Farmers
DAKAR, Senegal - Three of the leading organizations in Africa working with smallholder farmers today joined The MasterCard Foundation to reaffirm their commitment to provide farmers with more of the financial resources and agribusiness connections they need to succeed.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Mobile Money Not As Useful As Expected For Banking Poorer, Rural Africans
Kenya’s banks came together this month to launch PesaLink, a new platform that will be integrated into all banks in the country, allowing users to seamlessly send money from one bank to another. The move signifies major new competition for Safaricom’s M-Pesa and other mobile money services, which launched initially to streamline the process of sending money.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Facebook plans to lay almost 500 miles of fiber cable in Africa for better wireless internet
Facebook has a new plan to get more of Africa online: Fiber optic cables. The social giant on Monday announced plans to lay nearly 500 miles of fiber cable in Uganda by the end of the year, infrastructure that Facebook believes will provide internet access for more than three million people.
- Categories
- Technology, Telecommunications
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Artoo Partners with Microfinance Institution Grameen Koota in India
Grameen Koota, a pioneer in rural lending, is expanding its product portfolio and venturing into Individual lending for its rural customer base. To this end, it has partnered with FinTech firm Artoo to develop a digital lending model to launch Individual business loans. Artoo’s intelligent digital platform will enable it to go paperless and reduce loan approval and go-to-market time significantly.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Telangana Launches India’s First Social Innovation Hub in Nizamabad
Telangana IT Secretary Jayesh Ranjan made this announcement at the one-day Development Dialogue, an international social entrepreneurship ecosystem conference hosted by Kakatiya Sandbox.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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Learning From Failure: Lessons From Nigeria About Integrating Technology Into Rural Health Systems
A study showed that most people living in a Nigerian territory lacked access to health care, leading to a radical eHealth pilot project. That pilot failed, but lessons learned ultimately led to a stronger and more sustainable eHealth framework in Nigeria and can help others who hope to integrate technology into health systems, especially in limited-resource settings.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Tags
- data, failure, rural development
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