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Press release: Nine new projects focused on financial inclusion to receive more than US $9 million
Lindsay Wallace, Director of Strategy and Learning at the Mastercard Foundation, said: “The aim of the FRP has always been to enable smallholder farmers and poor people living in rural Africa to reach their full potential by supporting new private sector initiatives that provide access to financial services. We’re very happy to see this latest round of selected firms, demonstrating the depth and breadth of ideas and action plans that will do just that.”
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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USAID and Musoni Microfinance sign $8 million loan guarantee agreement to boost Kenya’s agricultural sector
Small scale farmers, individuals, associations, cooperatives and micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Kenya will be the key beneficiaries of this guarantee.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Mauritius-based startup works on first Africa-developed blockchain
A Mauritius-based startup is working on the first highly-efficient mobile blockchain developed in Africa, which it says is set to see large-scale consumer adoption by 2021.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- blockchain, fintech, startups
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SoftBank and Singtel are leading a pre-IPO $1.25 billion investment in Africa’s No.2 mobile phone company
Money raised from going public, alongside some of the new funding, will go towards cutting down the company’s existing $5 billion debt.
- Categories
- Technology, Telecommunications
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Africans Fear Trend Toward Taxes on Data, Mobile Money
The telecom companies say taxes on mobile payments introduced by a string of countries hurt their revenues and threaten much-needed investment in infrastructure.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology, Telecommunications
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Mobile money transfers have taken off in Somalia, but it’s a risky business
Unlike Kenya’s famous Mpesa mobile money transfer services, Somalia’s transfers are mainly available in US dollars. Though the companies offering mobile money services are mobile network operators, as in Kenya, they are increasingly forming part of large conglomerates that also offer banking and money transfer services.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- fintech
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Viewpoint: Tax on internet, mobile cash will dim ‘Silicon Savannah’ dream
Kenya is a rising star in ICT and is fondly referred to as the “Silicon Savannah”. ICT exhibits potential to be a key player in turning around an overburdened economy and could even haul Kenya into industrialisation. Over-taxing it is hardly the way to run around the wheel and reinvent growth.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- fintech, public policy, regulations
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The Chinese phone giant that beat Apple to Africa
Unknown in the West, Transsion has left global players like Samsung and Apple trailing in its wake in a continent that's home to more than a billion people.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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