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Egypt’s 800-Billion Pound Gorilla
With an estimated 800 billion Egyptian Pounds ($136 billion) in domestic deposits, you’d think Egyptian banks should have plenty of loans and credit available for Egyptian small- and medium- sized enterprises (SMEs). Not quite; considering the fact that Egyptian government debt held domestically is nearly the same amount.
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Bananas Over Corporate Governance: The 2011 Banana Skins Survey
In the recently published Microfinance Banana Skins 2011, subtitled "Losing its fairy dust," the third annual survey polls microfinance practitioners, investors, analysts, regulators, and other experts on the top risks facing the industry worldwide. Corporate governance is ranked the fourth highest risk - up from seventh a year ago.
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New Resource: CGAP Launches Branchless Banking Database
The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) just announced the launch of a brand new resource for those interested in the growth of mobile money around the world.
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- Education
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Healthcare With the BoP Series: Staying Out of the Medical Poverty Trap In Pakistan
An adolescent golf champion who grew up to be Pakistan?s first female cardiologist, Sania Nishtar wields influence in forums from the World Health Organization to the Clinton Global Initiative. Through her NGO, Heartfile, she has honed in on one critical barrier to health delivery for the poor: serious shortfalls in financing.
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- Health Care
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Beleza Natural: Valuing Brazilian Women’s Self-Esteem
Beleza Natural is much more than a one-off beauty parlor. Founded in 1993, the company began operating in a basement in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro. After less than 20 years in business, Beleza Natural has grown to 80,000 customers a month, and has become a national archetype for service and access for a clientele living at base of the pyramid.
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In Haiti, the Fonkoze Model of Social Evolution – Part 2
Editor’s Note: This is the second in a two-part series on Fonkoze’s operations following last year’s earthquake in Haiti. New Fonkoze clients pay a one-time membership fee for life, and they quickly encounter an organization structure designed to communicate to them what a democratic institution looks like.
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Financial Inclusion: Banking in the Amazon (With Video)
Autazes, a municipality in Brazil’s Amazon region, did not have a single point of access to banking services until 2002, when an agent set up operations there. Since then, Autazes has experienced significant economic and social changes, as the local population has access to government payments and other banking services for the first time.
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Building Markets for Financial Inclusion … Beyond Micro-credit!
The micro-credit crises under way in Andhra Pradesh will probably affect micro-credit operations globally. Time to take a broader look at financial inclusion ? on how to bring credit, transactions, savings and insurance to those currently excluded formal banking ? through a review of the Global Financial Inclusion report by McKinsey.
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