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Kenyan Consortium Launches Mobile Banking App
CBK Governor Dr. Patrick Njoroge said, "Until now, lending to MSMEs has been constrained by the lack of reliable information to assess their creditworthiness. The innovation in this product is the use of all data on customers' transactions to fill this gap. In that sense it is revolutionary."
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Viewpoint: Reforming Microfinance to Alleviate Poverty, Foster National Development
About 90 per cent of Nigeria’s businesses are considered microenterprises. Despite this huge number, easy access to funds has remained a challenge for most Small and Medium Enterprises, in spite of several government funding initiatives.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Press Release: OPIC Signs Agreement With Banco Regional to Support Women-Owned, Small and Medium Businesses in Paraguay
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the U.S. Government’s development finance institution, today recognized a $138 million commitment to Banco Regional to support Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), especially women-owned SMEs, in Paraguay. Citibank will provide an additional $11.5 million to Banco Regional to support SMEs.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Investing
- Region
- Latin America
- Tags
- development finance, entrepreneurship, OPIC, SMEs, Women
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Press release: IIX awarded S$1.2M from Australian government to develop ecosystem for gender lens investing in Asia
With a decade of experience building the impact investing market and driving women’s empowerment across the world, IIX will leverage its ecosystem and gender-focused approach to support the growth of 500 impact enterprises across Asia.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Paycheck, Please: Why Jobs Are Better Than Charity
Those of us who “won the zip code lottery” by being born in a prosperous country often take for granted something that’s out of reach for many people around the world: a stable and satisfying job. Suzanne Skees explores how the Skees Family Foundation leverages the power of dignified, secure jobs to fight poverty – and highlights what they've learned from partner organizations about how to maximize the impact of job creation efforts.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Investing
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How Perceptions of Risk May Be Creating The “Missing-Middle” Funding Gap
The challenges small- and medium-sized businesses face in accessing capital in emerging markets are well-known. But Clint Bartlett and Michael Eastman wonder: What if the problem is not with the SMEs, but with the capital providers and their understanding of risk? They argue that the conventional perception of risk wrongly reinforces poor access to funding, which leads to a vicious circle impacting entire markets. They explore how shifting this perception could help funders see more opportunities and strengthen the system.
- Categories
- Investing
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Digital Lending To Small Business in India Set To Surge, Says BCG-Omidyar Report
As the number of digital lending platforms rise and the availability of data around small businesses improves, digital lending to the country’s micro small and medium enterprises could surge, said a report co-authored by consulting firm BCG and philanthropic investor Omidyar Network.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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The Power of Messaging: How WhatsApp is Becoming a Not-So-Secret Weapon Among Small Enterprises in Emerging Markets
Doing business in emerging markets requires significant and often remote communication – from managing inventory to keeping track of transactions and employees in the field. But though donor-funded digitization efforts often focus on building payments use cases, some of the most needed advancements are happening via existing communications channels like WhatsApp, says Strategic Impact Advisors VP Hamilton McNutt. He explores the innovative ways companies are using WhatsApp – and how messaging apps could better serve their needs.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Technology
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