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They use advanced data science and machine learning to create the fastest and leanest financial services infrastructure, according to Joel Muhumuza, the country manager JUMO Uganda.

The HiPipo chief executive officer Innocent Kawooya expressed his excitement about JUMO’s financial inclusion efforts, saying that its products are taking a lead in democratising lending and borrowing.“We are excited to interact with JUMO, a company that is enhancing financial inclusion in over 10 countries and serving more than 16 million customers.”

Reimagining finance in emerging markets by extending financial services to the underserved and the excluded has been JUMO’s goal since inception.

Reimagining finance in emerging markets by extending financial services to the underserved and the excluded has been JUMO’s goal since inception. This explains why it chose to specialize in social impact financial products where small businesses that are financially excluded can access loans and savings products.

#SolidariTECH The CGEM continues to invest in startup development. In collaboration with the Moroccan Start-up Ecosystem Catalysts (MSEC), it has launched a social initiative called #SolidariTECH. It orientates the startups to develop agile solutions to the COVID19 and quarantine issues for the benefit of civil society, companies and the Government. They provide new solutions in the fields of health, education and even DabaDoc medical consultation online. Now this initiative is welcoming a new stakeholder, the International Finance Corporation. It also aims to deploy the solutions proposed by these startups in neighboring countries such as Algeria and Tunisia and identify new synergies between #SolidariTECH and similar initiatives carried out in the Maghreb region.

The CGEM continues to invest in startup development. In collaboration with the Moroccan Start-up Ecosystem Catalysts (MSEC), it has launched a social initiative called #SolidariTECH.

For instance, the platform “DabaDoc “offers citizens the option to have a medical consultation online. Now this initiative0.959

The product of WorldCover is certainly customer centric at its core. When initially launching, Chris went to Ghana and began speaking to the farmers there. To him, it was important they didn’t “sit around and design a product by committee,” but instead that they actually went and understood what the customer problems were.“I would ask a farmer, what’s your biggest problem today? What are you worried about today? Just a very general question, and they would say I’m worried that the rain won’t come. I’m worried that my crop will fail and there will be drought this year.” — Chris Sheehan, CEO WorldCover

While refugees need immediate humanitarian aid, of course, they generally struggle to find work or start a business over the long-term. That’s, in part, because financial institutions usually won’t lend to them. The fund also will be the first institutional investment opportunity from Kiva Capital Management, an asset manager slated to launch as a subsidiary later this year. The organization describes it as "impact-first", that is, returns will be concessionary.

Women constitute the majority of remittance recipients globally and remittances have an impact on both women’s actual income as well as on social normsRemittances are believed to directly touch the lives of 1 billion people globally, maintaining millions of receiving families above the poverty line with remittances often representing 60 per cent or more of household income.

Remittances are believed to directly touch the lives of 1 billion people globally, maintaining millions of receiving families above the poverty line with remittances often representing 60 per cent or more of household income. Globally, women represent almost half of the 258 million migrants and back home in the countries of origin, women represent the majority of remittance recipients.

data from WorldRemit indicates that in 2014, 20.46 per cent of their female customers globally would use mobile money as payout mechanism compared to only 13.99 per cent of men.

According to Ezinne Obikile, SystemSpecs Executive Director, Infrastructure and Payments Gateway; “SystemSpecs is committed to driving financial inclusion and providing payment convenience to all, which underscores this strategic partnership with Paga to extend a wide range of financial solutions and services to customers everywhere, even at a time as this.”

Also commenting, Jay Alabraba, Co-founder and Director of Business Development, Paga said: “In our commitment to make payments easier for all Nigerians and businesses, we are pleased to collaborate with SystemSpecs. Our goal is to always provide an improved experience to our customers everywhere, by leveraging digital technology. This collaboration would further help us meet the needs of individuals who seek to make various bill payments, including those in emerging markets.”

he “Kiva.org: Crowd-Sourced Microfinance and Lending Team Cooperative Behavior” study focuses on evaluating the extent to which Solidarity as a design-lever impacts social behavior. Looking specifically at Kiva.org as a prominent community for peer-to-peer lending, this study seeks to evaluate the advent of “Lending Teams,” their subsequent impact on group lending behavior, and the extent to which group openness, size, and categorization substantively alters online cooperative behavior.

1. Millennials squared – a parable of a digital wallet and beer moneyEarlier this year Sam Crowder stood up at a televised baseball game, and held a sign asking his Mum to send him “beer money”. He included his Venmo account information. Thousands of people sent him money, as his sign went viral. Beyond sharing this story as advice in case you ́re ever thirsty and leave your wallet at home, what it reflects is how the use of new technologies may start with digital natives, but then rapidly spread to other generations. It reflects the inter-generational adoption of, and use of, FinTech technologies.So, when looking at the potential of new services, it is important not just to consider the young people who will adopt it. But what will happen when they introduce the technology to their friends and family. Millennials are the earthquake that shakes companies, and adopt new tech and services at lightning speed. The rest of us are the tsunami of adoption that follows and lead to exponential growth.

2. Facebook, Amazon, Google or Ant Financial will become the largest retail bank in the worldIt’s 2020 and to apply for a loan, instead of going to your local bank branch, you quickly ask Facebook for approval. This is far from fanciful thinking. Even as of today, PayPal is arguably one of the largest retail banks — it has more money in deposits than all but the largest 20 US banks, and offers services from payments, to loans and credit cards (albeit currently via partners). But we believe that one of the major tech companies, whether that is Facebook, Amazon, Google, or Ant Financial (the financial arm of Alibaba) will not only transform retail banking, but rapidly become the largest retail bank in the world.“Some bankers and analyststhink that Google, Facebook, Amazon or the like will not fully enter a highly regulated, low-margin business such as banking. I disagree. What is more, I think banks that are not prepared for such new competitors face certain death”Francisco González, CEO, BBVA

hese major tech companies have the platform and the scale to upend retail banking. They already have a digital wallet which underlies the services that enable users to buy and sell on their platforms, such as Google Wallet and Amazon Payments. Facebook Messenger Pay is already available in the US while it recently received an e-money license from the Central Bank of Ireland. This means European users will be able to store and transfer money, and make online purchases. The transition to becoming the largest retail bank in the world will be swift and brutal for traditional banks.

Kiva lenders receive on average about 96% of their money back and agree not to receive interest. “It is done philanthropically,” Shah says. For many, presumably, it is their first impact investment.

Kiva lenders receive on average about 96% of their money back and agree not to receive interest. “It is done philanthropically,” Shah says. For many, presumably, it is their first impact investment.

Video technology has been gaining steam as a marketing medium for quite some time and the trend is showing no signs of slowing down. Video currently represents close to 70 percent of all internet traffic and will reach 80 percent of traffic by 2019, according to a recent report by Cisco. That’s nearly a million minutes of video being shared every second! We’ve also seen video make its mark on both the social and media landscape as well. Facebook has opened live streaming to all users, and the advent of tools such as Blab, Meerkat and Periscope have changed the way news is being reported as reporters have started using livestreaming tools to give viewers unprecedented access and intimacy to breaking news events.

African fintech startup Jumo has pulled in a fresh $12.5 million to add more fuel for its expansion into Asia Pacific.

Jumo specializes in social impact financial products, such as microloans, savings and insurance.

It started in Tanzania, and today claims to have originated more than $1 billion in loans.

The 2008 financial crisis has generated a confidence loss among financial institutions (banks), businesses, and customers. This erosion of trust is getting worse over time because of the financial services offered by their banks that have been deemed to be outdated by the clients. In our century, the march of technology, internet connectivity, and digital connectivity toward financial institutions are inevitable. This economic downturn leads financial institutions to turn to technology in order to improve their services vis-a-vis the clients, and prevent the spread of this trust crisis. In many financial service organizations, technology has moved from the back offices to the front. The industry has become the world’s most digitized one according to Strategy & Analysis; they say that 60 percent of all retail banking transactions now are done online. In Europe, more than 47 percent of ultra-high-net-worth individuals use Facebook and more than 40 percent of high-net-worth individuals under the age of 50 view social media as an important channel for communicating with their bank, according to a recent study by Assetinum. Similarly, a recent Deutsche Bank study finds that more than 33 percent of all new banking business with customers between the ages of 16 and 39 is conducted fully on the Web. Among these younger clients, online channels (including social media) have become one of the most important information sources for investment decisions

Digital financeAs the global economy recovers from COVID-19, one particular area of focus for FinTech is financial inclusion. According to the World Bank, there are currently around 1.7 billion unbanked individuals worldwide, and FinTechs will be central to efforts to integrate these people into the global banking system.Doing so will help to mitigate the economic and social impact of the pandemic. According to Deloitte, FinTechs, in strategic partnerships with financial institutions, retailers and government sectors across jurisdictions, can help democratise financial services by providing basic financial services in a fair and transparent way to economically vulnerable populations.Digital finance is also expanding in other areas. Health concerns in the COVID-19 era have made physical cash payments less practical, opening the door to an increase in digital payments and e-wallets. Though cash use was predicted to decline in any case, COVID-19 has hurried that decline, due to concerns that handing over money can cause human to human transmission of the virus. According to a Mastercard survey looking at the implications of the coronavirus pandemic, 82 percent of respondents worldwide viewed contactless as the cleaner way to pay, and 74 percent said they will continue to use contactless payment post-pandemic.In addition, improved ‘know your customer’ services are required to counter the rise in digital fraud and cyber crime since the beginning of the outbreak. As more of the global economic and financial system continues to move online, cyber defences will become even more crucial to protect data. Security-conscious FinTechs are designing their products with this in mind – even if face-to-face meetings and processes do return. Given the rising reliance on technology, digital transformation will be a primary focus for FIs in the months and years ahead. Whereas previous efforts to integrate technology may have been limited in scope, many FIs are awakening to the fact that in order to deliver an efficient, effective and sustainable banking service, they must adopt a more holistic approach to digital transformation, which includes utilising FinTech.

Kiva Small Business Loan FeaturesSome attractive aspects of a Kiva loan includes more flexible terms, low costs to borrowers and emphasis on supporting community-wide projects that can shape the future for a family or an entire community.

Some attractive aspects of a Kiva loan includes more flexible terms, low costs to borrowers and emphasis on supporting community-wide projects that can shape the future for a family or an entire community.

It will show that the M-PESA application was utilized for the cultivation of livelihood strategies

Most Ghanaians who use MTN have said that hours after the country’s largest mobile network operator introduced new data packages they were unable to purchase data bundles.

MTN Ghana has apologized to its customers who are facing challenges as they try to purchase data bundles.

MTN has experienced some challenges on some of our channels post-implementation of the adjustment of prices and our new data bundles.”