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KCB, Safaricom Lower Mobile Loans Interests After COFEK Pressure
KCB and its mobile money partner Safaricom have finally bowed to pressure to lower mobile money interest rates.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- lending
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India: IFC to Extend Up to $40m to Microfinance Firm Ujjivan Through Debt Investment
International Finance Corporation, the private investment arm of World Bank plans to invest up to $40 million in Indian micro finance institution Ujjivan Financial Services in form of a senior debt investment.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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White House: U.S. to Support $10 Million in Loans to Myanmar Small Businesses
At the invitation of President Barack Obama, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, State Counsellor of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, is on an official visit to Washington, D.C. in September 2016. During the visit, State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and President Obama held a meeting on September 14 in the White House and adopted this joint statement.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- lending
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Fighting Poverty Through … Car Title Loans? A Q&A with Finova CEO Greg Keough
The words "car title loan" are usually associated with cycles of debt and repossessed vehicles rather than any positive social impact. But Finova, a Florida-based startup, hopes to change that image and disrupt the $5.3 billion emergency cash lending industry by providing un- and under-banked people in the U.S. with access to fairly priced loans, while improving their credit scores and helping them get out of debt. We spoke with Greg Keough, Finova's CEO, in this Q&A.
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MTN Shuts Down Mobile Money Service in South Africa, Plans to Start Selling Insurance
In a country where more than 75 percent of people have bank accounts, South Africa-based mobile phone operator MTN Group has pulled the plug on its mobile money service there, saying it’s not viable.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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The One-Rupee Trick: How Banks Cut Their Zero-Balance Jan Dhan Accounts
In August 2014, a few weeks after the launch of Jan Dhan, the government’s flagship scheme under which the unbanked get bank accounts, Kamlesh, a housewife at Purnapur village in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly, opened an account at the Punjab and Sind Bank’s local branch. Wife of a farmer, the opening balance in her account was zero. This wasn’t unusual — in fact, accounts like Kamlesh’s, called zero-balance accounts, made up almost half of all the 17.90 crore Jan Dhan accounts a year later given that most of the holders were poor and had little by way of savings.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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The 9 Best Countries to Be a Social Entrepreneur
Social entrepreneurs using businesses as a way to tackle social problems are emerging across the world.
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- Uncategorized
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Eight Principles for Digital Payments in Humanitarian Response
Recognizing both the practical challenges to using locally available digital payment services and the powerful opportunity to leverage humanitarian spending to build inclusive, lasting financial infrastructure, 24 public, multilateral and nongovernmental organizations met in Barcelona earlier this year and developed eight principles for digital payments in humanitarian response.
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- Uncategorized
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