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mohammed_ab

0% Interest Small Business Loans | Kiva - 1 views

  • Kiva expands access to and lowers the cost of capital for small business owners by providing 0% interest, crowdfunded loans, raised from its network of 1.6 million supportive lenders around the world. Many of these lenders become borrowers' new customers, brand advocates, and biggest fans.
  • WE NYC has partnered with Kiva, a platform specializing in crowdfunded loans, to help more women entrepreneurs achieve crowdfunding success. Participating in WE Fund Crowd means WE NYC will be your first lender, pledging 10%, or up to $1,000, of your crowdfunding goal. Friends, family, and new supporters who see your campaign will know that WE NYC believes in your business and your dreams.
  •  
    Kiva has a very interesting platform that aims to help small businesses that have no interest.
  •  
    This partnership between the city of New York and Kiva should be an example for all major cities.
mehdibella

Exciting news! Kiva's next chapter | Kiva - 0 views

  • Today, we’re proud to introduce a new look and feel for Kiva, and a new, mobile-responsive website that makes supporting small businesses around the world easier than ever.
  • When Kiva began in 2005, we had a simple goal: to connect borrowers who need small amounts of capital to improve their lives, with lenders who want to help.
  • Kiva’s grown into a true global community, where people come together to support and believe in each other. That's part of the story we hope to capture with our new imagery.
mehdibella

Kiva Receives USAID Design Funding to Structure Innovative $100M Fund to Support 1 Mill... - 0 views

  • Kiva has been awarded $2.5 million from the W-GDP Fund at USAID in an effort to identify innovative approaches to catalyze commercial investment for women’s economic empowerment and equality.
  • The Kiva Capital team will use this innovative funding to launch a comprehensive fund design and structuring process. This will include the development of an impact framework and a shared learnings platform.
sawsanenn

7 Best Practices for Aligning Fintech With Your Business Strategy - 0 views

  • Fintech is one of the buzziest trends in financial services right now, and no financial institution wants to be left behind. But with seemingly boundless opportunities, how do you know which fintech partnerships make sense for your FI? Here are seven tips for making sure your fintech activities align with your business strategy: Start with a clearly defined business strategy. Strategy, not technology, should drive your fintech decisions. Before considering any fintech partnerships, make sure you have a clearly defined and communicated business strategy that aligns with your FI’s objectives. Don’t get on board with a promising technology and then build a strategy around it. Don’t blindly jump into opportunities that fall in your lap—seek out partnerships that will support your goals. Don’t just sign on for a fintech partnership because it sounds cool. Only experiment with fintech if you have a goal and purpose in mind. Think about what you’re trying to accomplish. Don’t spread your focus too thinly. Not every new initiative needs to have ties to a fintech partnership. Only experiment in areas that are important to your business. Use your limited resources to explore fintech that can make a significant contribution to your FI. Experimenting with fintech partnerships that do nothing to drive bottom-line results may not be a good use of time and effort.
    • samiatazi
       
      Considering all the 7 steps to align the Fintech with the business strategy will add value to the company. The whole process is important, and all the business pillars should work together for the good sake of the organization.
  • A lot of times an FI will direct IT staff to develop fintech partnerships. While IT has a lot of insight to offer, they don’t have all the information to drive the decision. Business and IT need to work together to find and deploy fintech partnerships that make sense. It shouldn’t be a strictly business or tech initiative.
    • ghtazi
       
      in order to have a Successful fintech, Business and It need to work hand in hand to climb the rungs.
  • Fintech is one of the buzziest trends in financial services right now, and no financial institution wants to be left behind. But with seemingly boundless opportunities, how do you know which fintech partnerships make sense for your FI? Here are seven tips for making sure your fintech activities align with your business strategy: Start with a clearly defined business strategy. Strategy, not technology, should drive your fintech decisions. Before considering any fintech partnerships, make sure you have a clearly defined and communicated business strategy that aligns with your FI’s objectives. Don’t get on board with a promising technology and then build a strategy around it. Don’t blindly jump into opportunities that fall in your lap—seek out partnerships that will support your goals. Don’t just sign on for a fintech partnership because it sounds cool. Only experiment with fintech if you have a goal and purpose in mind. Think about what you’re trying to accomplish. Don’t spread your focus too thinly. Not every new initiative needs to have ties to a fintech partnership. Only experiment in areas that are important to your business. Use your limited resources to explore fintech that can make a significant contribution to your FI. Experimenting with fintech partnerships that do nothing to drive bottom-line results may not be a good use of time and effort.
    • sawsanenn
       
      This excerpt is important because it shows how designing and planning a strategy in a fintech is cruicial to build an effective fintech business
kaoutarchennoufi

GLC, Fawry cooperate to offer EGP 500 grants to painters - Fawry - 0 views

  • GLC Paints is providing EGP 500 grants to construction painters through Fawry outlets across Egypt in an initiative to help those affected by the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.The move by GLC Paints comes as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme. The company has also responded to government and social calls for private sector companies to support workers in the current conditions.
    • kaoutarchennoufi
       
      The pandemic has negatively affected people in many ways. Social support is much needed during these tough times. Therefore, Fawry is providing 500 grants to painters across Egypt through Fawry outlets. Also, Fawry made the distribution of these grants very easy and efficient.Once a painter receives an sms he/she can go directly to the nearest Fawry outlet and collect his/her grant.
omarlahmidi

South Africa Overview - 0 views

  • South Africa’s political transition is known as one of the most remarkable political feats of the past century. The ruling African National Congress (ANC) has been driving the policy agenda since 1994. In August 2016 the country held the most competitive local government election since 1994 in which the ANC-lost majority support in four of the metropolitan cities. Political parties negotiated coalition deals that saw the ANC unseated in the cities of Johannesburg, Pretoria and Nelson Mandela Bay. The latest general elections were held in May 2019.
kenza_abdelhaq

AgroCenta CEO on the Challenges of Entrepreneurship in Ghana - 0 views

  • Does being an entrepreneur in Ghana – and in a developing economy in Africa – presents any ulterior challenges you had overcome?Being an entrepreneur in Africa and in emerging markets, in general, is quite difficult because of the lack of structure and supports put in place by the government. It requires a lot of courage and persistence to get the simplest things done. Any simple tech solution that you might want to build can end up being a very complex challenge because it relies on services that do not exist or don’t work properly. Access to funding also remains a big problem for many entrepreneurs who will need money to test, pilot and scale a platform or a solution. Many investors are quite held back when it comes to making investments in Africa for an obvious reason: corruption.
    • nouhaila_zaki
       
      This excerpt is important because it reflects the challenges faced by AgroCenta in Ghana, i.e. corruption, lack of financing, lack of proper infrastructure, lack of government help, among other things.
  • Our business model is simple, we are a B2B business that generates commission fees on trade volumes from the businesses we work with.
    • nouhaila_zaki
       
      This excerpt is extremely important because it clearly states the business model of the company.
  • we are definitely improving the financial livelihood of smallholder farmers through fair trade. Many smallholder farmers are paid less than $1 a day and our objective is to increase it to $4 a day by 2020.
    • kenzabenessalah
       
      AgroCenta is an extremely important concept because it is helping to increase farmers' salaries. Going from $1 a day to $4 a day is already an improvement.
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • AgroCenta focuses on 3 key impact goals for Ghana:No Poverty: Gender Equality: in Sub-Saharan Africa, traditions and land ownerships do not favor women, which ends up in many women being excluded from the agriculture value chain. By engaging the relevant stakeholders, AgroCenta rents arable agricultural lands to female smallholder farmers for free. Women are also given seeds, fertilizers, mechanized tractor services and extensive advisory information on farming best practices such as what type of seed to plant, when to plant, how to plant, etc.Decent Work & Economic Growth: we empower smallholder farmers to see agriculture as more than just a way to survive and position it as a viable industry that can be sustainable for their family.
    • mehdibella
       
      as you can see this company cares a lot about the livelyhood of their farmers and is trying to provide them only with the best features that would make life easier which in fact the main things that they tackle in the SDGs.
  • Seedstars Summit has been phenomenal. It has put AgroCenta on a pedestal and in the spotlight of a huge community in Africa. The experience after the Summit has been amazing: we received a lot of proposals from potential investors, partners and other service providers keen on working with us for growth and expansion.
  • Winning the vote of the entire jury, AgroCenta from Ghana was crowned the Seedstars Global Winner of the 5th edition of Seedstars Summit. At Seedstars, we are convinced that AgroCenta will shape the future of AgriTech in Africa. Indeed, the start-up’s mission is to improve the financial livelihood of smallholder farmers through fair trade.
    • aminej
       
      Agrocenta will have a great impact on farmers in Africa since it will enable them to protect their production and have an insurace in case of any risks. It will also help them regulate the market of agricultural products in order to set a price for each one
  • We identified a missing gap in the value chain that was the capacity to access the market for smallholder farmers after they have successfully cultivated their commodities. Access to the market was a huge problem for millions of smallholder farmers.
    • kenza_abdelhaq
       
      AgroCenta is fulfilling a market gap that is the need for smallholder farmers to access the market.
  • AgroCenta focuses as well as Seedstars on achieving the Sustainable Goals set up by the UN
    • sawsanenn
       
      one of the main goals is to reach economic growth by empowering smallholders farmers to see agriculture not only as a survival solution but as an investment
  • Gender Equality: in Sub-Saharan Africa, traditions and land ownerships do not favor women, which ends up in many women being excluded from the agriculture value chain. By engaging the relevant stakeholders, AgroCenta rents arable agricultural lands to female smallholder farmers for free. Women are also given seeds, fertilizers, mechanized tractor services and extensive advisory information on farming best practices such as what type of seed to plant, when to plant, how to plant, etc.Decent Work & Economic Growth: we empower smallholder farmers to see agriculture as more than just a way to survive and position it as a viable industry that can be sustainable for their family.
    • hibaerrai
       
      Agrocenta main goals are the following: first and the most evident one no poverty especially for farmers who are not paid enough. second, gender equality and finally economic agricultural development within the country.
  • A great team for sure! Our major strength has been a team made of people with diverse backgrounds and experiences and a deep understanding of the agricultural value chain. This asset allowed us to save a lot of time we would have naturally spent on trying to fine tune and launch the AgroCenta platform. Thanks to that we avoided making the common mistakes many new and unexperienced founders make.
    • ghtazi
       
      what we can understand is that having a great team is the key asset that led to the rapid growth of Agrocenta. cross-cultural team has been a plus for the development of agrocenta. it helped the company to save time and avoid making common mistakes that many new and inexperienced founders make.
  • Many investors are quite held back when it comes to making investments in Africa for an obvious reason: corruption.
nouhaila_zaki

The future of Africa's Agriculture rests with the youth | E-Agriculture - 2 views

  • The youth in the study said that their biggest obstacle to a career in farming was learning the digital and technical skills needed in todays’ market. Technologies such as cloud computing, soil sensors, drones have changed food production and processing – digital literacy is now a must!
    • nouhaila_zaki
       
      This excerpt is important because it emphasizes on how digital literacy could contribute to the creation of jobs in Africa, which are most needed.
  • he second important reasons they raised was land ownership, most youths who receive farming land get smaller pieces of land parceled out. The challenge is that young farmers must produce more yields from smaller spaces, without innovative technologies In some countries for example in Kenya, some youth are innovatively establishing youth-driven innovations which sadly do not receive political or financial support that allows for viability and scalability.
  • Africa is in the height of a crisis and an opportunity. Africa’s population stands at 1,2 billion people and over 60% are below the age of 25. Yet most African youths are not employed, and according to the World Bank by 2035, 350 million new jobs will be needed. Africa’s population is growing faster than jobs are created. There is a potential for agriculture to create employment, however, African youths in Sub-Saharan Africa do not realize agriculture as a profitable opportunity for livelihood. There is a growing notion that the best way to entice young people back to the farms is through making youths access information and communication technologies tailored for agriculture.
tahaemsd

The Curious Case of M-Pesa's Miraculous Poverty Reduction Powers - Developing Economics - 0 views

  • Perhaps the most influential and widely reported publication pushing forward this narrative is an article examining M-Pesa written by US-based economists Tavneet Suri and William Jack—and published in the prestigious journal Science—entitled ‘The Long-run Poverty and Gender Impacts of Mobile Money’.
    • tahaemsd
       
      To solidify support for upping the promotion of digital fianancial inclusion initiatives across the global south
  • erhaps the most influential and widely reported publication pushing forward this narrative is an article examining M-Pesa written by US-based economists Tavneet Suri and William Jack—and published in the prestigious journal Science—entitled ‘The Long-run Poverty and Gender Impacts of Mobile Money’.
    • tahaemsd
       
      The authors make the far reaching claim that access to the kenyan mobile money system M-Pesa increased per capita consumption levels
mohammed_ab

An investigation of Safaricom M-Pesa strategies in enhancing mobile money transfer serv... - 0 views

  • The positioning of the M-Pesa product to capture the unbanked segment of the population especially in the lower income level bracket by providing a product that can easily and conveniently be accessed has made the M-Pesa become popular among the low income earners customers.
  • Strategies used by Safaricom to popularize the M-pesa product were an adoption of technology in the product development that has given it an edge over the other players. This has come about due to the increased investment in innovation and that employee’s use modern technology in their processes. The low cost strategy model also came out as yet another strategy that is used, Japanese concept of continuous improvement of a product or Kaizen, product differentiation through offering M-Pesa products with unique or superior value to the customer through product quality, features, or after-sale support.
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    I liked how M-Pesa positioned itself in the consumers who were unbanked and with little access to financial service. The company provided them with an easy to access solution to transfer money, which made the company very popular among the low-income community. It's also very interesting to see that the strategy used by the company was to use technology that allowed the service to work on non-smart phones.
kenza_abdelhaq

TPAY Mobile acquires Turkey's Payguru - Wamda - 0 views

  • The deal comes at a time when demand for digital payment services is surging due to the coronavirus pandemic. Within the Middle East and Africa region, mobile payments is a popular alternative among 50 percent of the population, most of which is underbanked.
    • kenza_abdelhaq
       
      The acquisition of Payguru by Tpay Mobile is a strategic partnership in the context of a global pandemic. It is also an alternative to around 50% of the population that is underbanked.
  • The FinTech sector in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is also growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30 percent, much higher than the average global rate of 11 percent
    • kenza_abdelhaq
       
      The FinTech sector in the MENA region continues to grow rapidly with a compound annual growth rate much higher than the average global rate.
  • TPAY Mobile is a digital merchant acquirer that enables payments acceptance from more than 54 mobile payment types and wallets, which are connected to more than 580 million consumers. According to Sahar Salama, founder and chief executive officer of TPAY Mobile, the acquisition of Payguru will support their diversification and expansion strategy.
    • kenza_abdelhaq
       
      Tpay Mobile already has a wide network of customers, but the new acquisition is part of the implementation of their diversification and expansion strategy.
tahaemsd

Hello Paisa halves remittance fees to Zimbabwe | ITWeb - 0 views

  • Money transfer service Hello Paisa has dropped remittance fees by half on every transaction to Zimbabwe, and is also offering digital banking accounts with zero transaction fees, to assist migrants impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.The fintech says cost-effective remittances are an essential service as they are a lifeline for the migrants and those they support across borders.
    • tahaemsd
       
      Zimbabwe is currently facing its own unique hardships economically, and fintech companies like hellopaisa have an essential role to play in financial empowerent
nourserghini

Former Swvl co-founder Mahmoud Nouh launches fintech startup, Capiter | Enterprise - 0 views

  • Capiter reads like a tech-enabled provider of factoring services, writing that the company “pays suppliers immediately” when they sell to a client and then “collects the payments from [the clients] on flexible payment plans.” Capiter is currently in conversation with different investors in the region, Menabytes claims, to raise money to support its growth.
    • nourserghini
       
      Besides stating that Capiter is a provider of factoring services through its tech-enabled model, it also states that Capitor is talking to new investors to expand in the region, maybe to serve other African countries and not only Egypt.
nourserghini

Foundation Ventures powers up Egypt's entrepreneurship ecosystem with 4 new investments - 0 views

  • The fund is backed by some of the largest family offices and business leaders from Egypt and the MENA region​.​The strategy is the first of its kind in Egypt, utilizing local know-how and private capital to support & build solid foundations for its portfolio.FV has Lead and Co-Lead four highly sought after deals during its initial deployment, investing in two Fintech companies, Capiter & Nowpay, one in consumer internet/entertainment, Minly, and one in logistics (operating in stealth).
    • nourserghini
       
      This article explains that the invested fund in Capiter is backed by important entities in Egypt and the MENA region. It also states Capiter and Nowpay as two similar fintechs which might suggest that Nowpay is a competitor of Capiter.
chaimaa-rachid

About | Kiva - 0 views

  • We do this by crowdfunding loans and unlocking capital for the underserved, improving the quality and cost of financial services, and addressing the underlying barriers to financial access around the world. Through Kiva's work, students can pay for tuition, women can start businesses, farmers are able to invest in equipment and families can afford needed emergency care.
  • We do this by crowdfunding loans and unlocking capital for the underserved, improving the quality and cost of financial services, and addressing the underlying barriers to financial access around the world. Through Kiva's work, students can pay for tuition, women can start businesses, farmers are able to invest in equipment and families can afford needed emergency care.
    • aminej
       
      Kiva is an interesting platform that offers very interesting funding access to people in different areas of the world. It would enable them to either start a new business or improve theirs. There are already 1.9 million lenders which is quite huge and a repayment rate of 95.9% so I believe that it is really developped.
  • We do this by crowdfunding loans and unlocking capital for the underserved, improving the quality and cost of financial services, and addressing the underlying barriers to financial access around the world. Through Kiva's work, students can pay for tuition, women can start businesses, farmers are able to invest in equipment and families can afford needed emergency care.
    • kaoutarchennoufi
       
      Kiva is a very impactful organization since it financially helps students and women who want to start their own business. It is well known that these two categories usually face difficulties to contract loans or get any financial service. We need more organizations like Kiva all around Africa.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Kiva started as a pioneer in crowdfunding in 2005, and is constantly innovating to meet people’s diverse lending needs. Whether it’s reinventing microfinance with more flexible terms, supporting community-wide projects or lowering costs to borrowers, we are always testing and learning.
  • We envision a financially inclusive world where all people hold the power to improve their lives.
  •  
    I love the concept of Kiva where you can see technology helping people in their lives. The company aims to link borrowers with lender in order to improve the lifestyle of the people interested in this service. I just like the way Fintech plays a big role in improving our life and Kiva is just a good example of it.
  •  
    Kiva provides attractive access to funding individuals to improve their lives.
chaimaa-rachid

Kiva (organization) - Wikipedia - 0 views

  • As of October 2017, 81% of Kiva's loans have been made to women.[19] Kiva emphasizes supporting women because women can gain the most from microcredit. Patriarchy and a strict division of labor still dominate the societies of many developing countries, and women often suffer the most from poverty because scarce resources are often allocated to a family's males, rather than its females.
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    As it is known that when a woman wishes to create or develop her own business, the chances of obtaining a business loan are strongly against her. So Kiva is now helping women make their dreams come true.
mohammed_ab

Kenyan insurtech startup Pula raises $6M Series A to derisk smallholder farmers across ... - 1 views

  • Another startup is Apollo Agriculture which raised $6 million Series A, akin to Pula. Not only did the pair raise the same round, Apollo Agriculture and Pula both deal with providing financial resources to smallholder farmers.
    • nourserghini
       
      Apollo Agriculture is another rival in the industry that is also considered as a partner and complement in the industry.
  • Pula is solving this problem by using technology and data. Through its Area Yield Index Insurance product, the insurtech startup leverages machine learning, crop-cut experiments and data points relating to weather patterns and farmer losses, to build products that cater to various risks.But getting farmers on board has never been easy, Goslinga told TechCrunch. According to her, Pula has understood not to sell insurance directly to small-scale farmers, because they can suffer from optimism bias. “Some think a climate disaster wouldn’t hit their farms for a particular season; hence, they don’t ask for insurance initially. But if they witness any of these climate risks during the season, they would want to get insurance, which is counterproductive to Pula,” said the founder in a phone call.
  • Pula, a Kenyan insurtech startup that specialises in digital and agricultural insurance to derisk millions of smallholder farmers across Africa, has closed a Series A investment of $6 million.The round was led by Pan-African early-stage venture capital firm, TLcom Capital, with participation from nonprofit Women’s World Banking. The raise comes after Pula closed $1 million in seed investment from Rocher Participations with support from Accion Venture Lab, Omidyar Network and several angel investors in 2018.
    • aminej
       
      Pula has managed to raise over 6 million $ which is good for them since they will be able to help more farmers get insurance on their products. Keeping in mind that Agricultural insurance costs 4$ in Africa compared to other places where it costs at least 1000$
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Agriculture insurance has traditionally relied on farm business. In the U.S. or Europe with typically large farms, an average insurance premium is $1,000. But in Africa, where smallholding or small-scale farms are the norm, the number stands at an average of $4.It is particularly telling that the value of agricultural insurance premiums in Africa represents less than 1% of the world’s total when the continent has 17% of the world’s arable land. 
  •  
    Pula studies the risks that they might find with small scale farmers. I like this kind of behavior because you need to study every possible problem so you can outcome it the best way possible.
  •  
    What got my attention in this article is the disparity in insurance prices (premiums) between European and African countries. We see that the premiums for insurance for African farmers are only 1% the price of insurance for European farmers. This shows the big difference in purchasing power between African and European countries.
mehdibella

Coronavirus: La plateforme DabaDoc lance la téléconsultation - 0 views

  • For its part, AXA Assurance Maroc announces that it will reimburse medical expenses for video consultation for disease declaration files submitted by AXA policyholders. These files are supplemented by the prescription and the payment receipt received by email from DabaDoc. 
    • samiatazi
       
      AXA assurance played a major rule during COVID19 by supporting the Moroccan community through free virtual consultations related to the pandemic.
  • DabaDoc met à disposition des patients la possibilité de prendre rendez-vous en ligne depuis la plateforme DabaDoc.com et d’échanger avec un médecin à distance sans se déplacer. Le service de consultation vidéo a été activé par DabaDoc pour tous les médecins adhérents, sans engagement.  Un lien unique et sécurisé est généré à chaque rendez-vous et transmis aux patients et aux médecins par SMS pour démarrer leur vidéo.  Le service ne nécessite pas le téléchargement d’une application mobile et fonctionne directement sur Chrome (Android) et Safari (iOS).
    • aminej
       
      It was a nice idea to launch the video call appointment by Doctors durng the outbreak of COVID. People could not go outside because of the lockdown. Even though it is not as accurate as going to the doctor but at least the doctor can tell what's wrong and give you some medicines.
  • De son côté, AXA Assurance Maroc annonce qu'elle assurera le remboursement des frais médicaux de consultation vidéo pour les dossiers de déclaration maladies soumis par les assurés AXA. Ces dossiers sont complétés par la prescription et le récépissé de règlement reçus par courriel de DabaDoc. 
aminej

Safaricom and Visa sign M-Pesa partnership - FinTech Futures - 0 views

  • The deal will see the pair work on the development of new products and services supporting digital payment for customers of Safaricom’s M-Pesa micro-finance and payments platform. The partnership will cover over 24 million M-Pesa customers, more than 173,000 M-Pesa merchants from Safaricom and more than 61 million merchants on Visa’s network. “This partnership will play an important role in delivering even more value to our customers,” says Peter Ndegwa, CEO of Safaricom.
    • aminej
       
      That's a huge partnership between Safaricom and M-pesa which will bring so much more customers and will promotes even more cashless payment since it is the future and it is growing more and more due to globalization
hibaerrai

WorldRemit and JMMB Money Transfer launch online transfers to Jamaica - 0 views

  • “The importance of remittances to Jamaican residents has risen consistently for over 30 years. Our partnership with JMMB Money Transfer, a trusted and valued partner in the region, will enable us to offer WorldRemit customers more choice, while supporting the transition from offline remittances to safer, faster and lower cost online money transfer options.”
    • hibaerrai
       
      WorldRemit takes all opportunities and have new partnerships with different money transfer platforms all around the world to give their customers more convenient choices. It promotes faster and safe money transfers, and It expands its network everyday.
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