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Digital Credit Scoring Opens Doors in Emerging Markets
May, 29 2018
Global - In the absence of robust traditional data, Microfinance Institutes (MFIs) don't have an accurate means of establishing risk profiles, and this retards the dispensation of borrowed money. Digital credit scoring addresses this issue
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Nigeria: Experts Seek Reduction in Lending Rates for Agribusinesses
May, 29 2018
Nigeria - Marx who decried that a bigger chunk of agricultural finance will continue to come from the commercial bank, urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to increase the loan ceiling for MFBs from N500,000 to N10 Million to compensate for inflation and allow for financing of farmers groups and value chains operations
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China: Worst Is Past for Microlenders
May, 28 2018
China - Effects of a late-year regulatory crackdown on Chinese online lenders has most likely run its course by now, analysts said, even as shares of U.S.-listed companies continue to feel some lingering fallout
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Philippines: Provinces Adopt Financial Inclusion Program KasamaKA
May, 27 2018
Philippines - KasamaKA, a pioneering grassroots-based movement aimed at empowering the unbanked population, has been officially adopted as the financial inclusion and social advocacy program across 81 provinces in the country through a resolution signed by the National Executive Board of the League of Provinces in the Philippines (LPP)
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IBM’s Microfinance Blockchain in Kenya Tests the Viability of Hyperledger
May, 26 2018
Kenya - Andrew Kinai, the lead software engineer on the project at IBM Research Kenya, reported, “The SMS-based solution provided an effective channel for a diverse set of users, some with limited IT literacy, to access financing for their orders.”
IBM states that it plans to expand the project to other small- and medium-sized businesses across Africa and into other sectors by the end of the year
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IFC, Mastercard Extend Financial Inclusion for Africans
May, 23 2018
Sub-Saharan Africa - The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has partnered with the Mastercard Foundation, to release a new report documenting the transformation underway in financial inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa
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Asia: MetLife Foundation Partners with Kiva to Support Entrepreneurs and Build Financial Inclusion
May, 22 2018
Asia - MetLife Foundation has partnered with Kiva, a global non-governmental organization, to support entrepreneurs around the world through an employee-engagement campaign. As part of this program, a fully funded $25 loan has been allocated to each of MetLife ’s 23,000 employees in Asia to help entrepreneurs start, sustain and grow their businesses. After successful campaigns with MetLife employees in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin America, the program has now come to Asia
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Chinese Fintech’s Global Future Is Arriving Now
May, 21 2018
China - The Chinese electronic payments industry is the most advanced in the world. It presents a challenge not just to western financial institutions, but to policymakers and regulators worldwide. These truths were understood already. Ant Financial’s recently closed $10bn fundraising, which pegged the value of the Chinese financial conglomerate at $150bn, merely puts a number to them
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India: Graduation Approach to End Poverty
May, 21 2018
India - Economists now emphasise on graduation programmes to eliminate extreme poverty, as the traditional model of microcredit or cash transfers has been deemed ineffective. In a country such as ours, numerous frauds have been unearthed in cash transfer schemes, depriving the poor of their rights
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Pakistan: SMEs Shrunk Considerably Due to Govt Borrowing, High Transaction Costs, Fear of NPLs Financing
May, 20 2018
Pakistan - Despite SMEs sectors, tremendous contribution towards national economy, only a fractional number of 171,000 SMEs have formal access to finance of Rs374 billion (as on September 30, 2017) through banks and DFIs. Out of the total 171,000 SMEs obtaining financing pie, 88 percent are small enterprises while 12 percent are medium-sized entities. Small enterprises occupy Rs154 billion of the financing, while 12 percent of the medium enterprises account for Rs222 billion
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Kenya: Blockchain Technology Is Being Used in Early Disruption of Kenya's Agribusiness
May, 19 2018
Kenya - In many emerging markets, food retailers along with smallholder farmers, struggle to secure loans and develop a credit history. And without the proper financing, many of them fail to scale their businesses.
To tackle this, IBM has been working with the Kenya-based food logistics startup Twiga Foods to facilitate micro-lending options for food vendors
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A New Multibillion-Dollar Investment Revolution Is Being Led by this Woman
May, 17 2018
Global - Impact investors want to make decisions based on risk, reward and on the amount of "good" an investment produces in the world. Wall Street firms will have to adapt by considering and communicating much more information about investee companies, like: Where are they headquartered? What problem are they trying to solve? Who will benefit, and who will be hurt
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BOI, UNDP Partners to Pioneer Impact Investing in Pakistan
May, 16 2018
Pakistan - In efforts to augment the impact investment ecosystem in Pakistan and introduce Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)-aligned financing, United Nations Development Programme in Pakistan (UNDP) will support Board of Investment (B01) in exploring the establishment of Pakistan’s first Impact Investment Fund
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A Microfinance Fund for Central Java, Indonesia
May, 13 2018
Indonesia - Blossom Finance, an investment consultancy that describes its business model as “commercial financing with social benefits,” announced recently open enrollment for an Islamic microfinance fund designed to bolster micro-businesses and traditional market sellers in the province of Central Java, Indonesia.
This will be a crypto-currency infused fund: participants can invest via Bitcoin Core (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH), or US dollars, through Blossom’s Delaware based fund
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Why One Private Equity Firm Is Betting Big on Impact Investing in Renewable Energy
May, 09 2018
Global - BCP's Managing Partner Florian Kemmerich says the investment vehicle will target distributed energy service companies (DESCOs). "It extends our impact investing footprint, which is predominantly focused on financial inclusion in emerging markets and lower income populations. Energy poverty is the issue of our age, and we feel alleviating it could be achieved using renewable energy.
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Zambia: Sweden Disburses K2bn for Poverty Reduction
May, 04 2018
Zambia - The Swedish Government has so far contributed about K2 billion to Zambia for increased employment opportunities in rural and peri-urban areas, creating opportunities to start and run productive businesses
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Uganda: Legislators to Block Tax on Mobile Money
May, 04 2018
Uganda - A section of Members of Parliament have threatened to block the proposed 1 per cent tax on the value of transaction on mobile money, saying it will discourage low income earners from using the service
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S. Garg, CEO, Teller: From New York to Madagascar - Why I Moved My Fintech Startup to Africa
May, 01 2018
Global - In the summer of 2017, I shifted my main focus from the U.S. to developing markets, and specifically sub-Saharan Africa. This market had two specific characteristics that made it perfect for a messaging-based chatbot: (1) Users were mobile-first oriented and were already accustomed to accessing financial services through their phones, and (2) existing customer service and education channels were either nonexistent, time-consuming or intimidating
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Impact Investing Must Resolve Its Identity Crisis
May, 01 2018
Global - We know impact investing is a hot topic: chief executives of investment companies, celebrities and entrepreneurs talk about it at every opportunity. But outside of a few buzzwords — ethical, sustainable and so on — there is no consensus as to what impact investing is.
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