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62 People Own the Same as Half the World, Reveals Oxfam Davos Report
The Oxfam report An Economy for the 1%, shows that the wealth of the poorest half of the world’s population has fallen by a trillion dollars since 2010, a drop of 41 percent. This has occurred despite the global population increasing by around 400 million people during that period. Meanwhile, the wealth of the richest 62 has increased by more than half a trillion dollars to $1.76tr. The report also shows how women are disproportionately affected by inequality – of the current ‘62’, 53 are men and just nine are women.
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Viewpoint: Why Microfinance Is Becoming a Bad Word All Over Again in India
Just when everyone thought the microfinance industry – which almost collapsed after the Andhra Pradesh crisis in 2010, when more than 60 persons committed suicide due to indebtedness – is resurgent and poised to touch new heights in lending to the poor, the spectre of another crisis looms on the horizon.
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- South Asia
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- microfinance
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Remitly Nears $1B Mobile Money Transfer Mark
Remitly, a U.S.-based mobile payments service, is nearing its next milestone. The company announced yesterday (Jan. 12) that its money transfer growth grew more than 400 percent in 2015, giving it close to $1 billion in annualized mobile money transfers. The company noted that December was a record month for the company.
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- remittances
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M-Pesa Rolls Out in Ghana, Expands Into West African Market
Vodafone Group announced the rollout of mobile money platform M-Pesa in Ghana, the 11th market where it has launched the service so far.
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- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Indian Government to Launch Program to Boost Innovation and Entrepreneurship Among Young People
The government is likely to set up an inter-ministerial board on the lines of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board to vet proposals to select start-ups who will be eligible for incentives under the Start-up India Action Plan to be launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday.
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- Region
- South Asia
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Viewpoint: 2016: The Year When Financial Inclusion Turns Big Business
It’s that time of year again. As a new year rolls on in, once again pundits are predicting the upcoming peaks and pitfalls for the FinTech industry in the year ahead.
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Press Release: New Research Shows U.S. Minorities Grossly Underrepresented in Financial Services
New Filene research, Reaching Minority Households: Learning from Minority Credit Unions, shows minorities comprise 30% of all U.S. households but account for fractions of total U.S. household income (23%) and total household wealth (10%). The research also finds minority households are significant customers for nonminority-owned financial providers and offers ways financial institutions can help close the gap.
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- research
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Viewpoint: Behind Toms Founder Blake Mycoskie’s Plan to Build an Army of Social Entrepreneurs
Last year, Blake Mycoskie confronted the one dilemma all entrepreneurs dream of: what to do with a personal windfall. In Mycoskie’s case, the $200 million (after taxes) that arrived after he sold half of his company, the buy-one, give-one shoe retailer Toms, to Bain Capital. He consulted family and friends, intending to find a philanthropic cause that he could embrace and attack, in the manner of other entrepreneurs such as Bill Gates, Marc Benioff, and Sergey Brin. But Mycoskie has always been an unusual businessman, a free spirit sprinting down a path of his own invention. His decision: use $100 million of that money to launch an investment fund that will back, well, companies that want to be like Toms.
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