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mehdi-ezzaoui

Kiva Is Not Quite What It Seems | Center For Global Development - 1 views

  • And finally in Kiva's defense, its behavior is emblematic of fund-raising in microfinance and charity generally, and is ultimately traceable to human foibles. People donate in part because it makes them feel good. Giving the beneficiary a face and constructing a story for her in which the donor helps write the next chapter opens purses. The pleasure of giving
  • Kiva is the path-breaking, fast-growing person-to-person microlending site. It works this way: Kiva posts pictures and stories of people needing loans. You give your money to Kiva. Kiva sends it to a microlender. The lender makes the loan to a person you choose. He or she ordinarily repays. You get your money back with no interest. It's like eBay for microcredit.
  • You knew that, right? Well guess what: you're wrong, and so is Kiva's diagram. Less that 5% of Kiva loans are disbursed after they are listed and funded on Kiva's site. Just today, for example, Kiva listed a loan fepor Phong Mut in Cambodia and at this writing only $25 of the needed $800 has been raised. But you needn't worry about whether Phong Mut will get the loan because it was disbursed last month. And if she defaults, you might not hear about it: the intermediating microlender MAXIMA might cover for her in order to keep its Kiva-listed repayment rate high.
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  • Like most innovations, Kiva is not entirely new. Rather, it is an ingenious fusion of older ideas. One is child sponsorship, which Save the Children pioneered in 1940. A family in a rich country sends $10 or $20 each month to a designated child in a poor country via a charity. In return, the family receives a photo and an update at least once a year. When I was perhaps eight, my family sponsored Constance, a Greek girl about my age, through Save the Children. I remember looking at her solemn face in two successive black and white portraits, trying to judge how much she had grown in a year.
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    Kiva should be careful about spreading a fake image about the company. The article states that kiva is not what people thinks and that there's another company that helps her but I think that kiva business idea is very good because and people don't have to link it with something bad.
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    This article has shown that KIVA spread the wrong image of its business. I think the company should be careful not to disseminate such information as it could destroy their image and people might not believe it anymore.
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    the person-to-person donor-to-borrower connections created by Kiva are partly fictional. I suspect that most Kiva users do not realize this. Yet Kiva prides itself on transparency.
mohammed_ab

Kiva Is Really A Crowdfunded Bank For Refugees And Other 'Unbankables' - 2 views

  • 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.
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    I like the fact that almost all lenders in Kiva platform don't receive interest in return. I think it's really hard to find someone that agrees to lend you money without paying interest in return. I really like the fact that these lenders see their investments in this platform as a social act and not as an act for personal gains.
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    kiva a solution for refugees and unbankables
mehdi-ezzaoui

A case-based reasoning approach to rate microcredit borrower risk in online Kiva P2P le... - 1 views

  • he adopted approach is applied and evaluated employing a selection of cases from individual loans. From this perspective, the case base and the codified knowledge about how to evaluate risks associated with a loan represent two examples of knowledge IT artifacts.
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    The authors discuss how the combination of available historical data on loans and their outcomes (structured as a case base) and available knowledge on how to evaluate the risk associated with a loan request can be used to provide the end users with an indication of the risk rating associated with a loan request based on similar past situations.
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.
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    Kiva has a very interesting platform that aims to help small businesses that have no interest.
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    This partnership between the city of New York and Kiva should be an example for all major cities.
ayachehbouni

La révolution digitale au service de l'agriculture en Afrique - Orange Juice ... - 0 views

  • Aujourd’hui plus de 3 000 agriculteurs sont inscrits sur la plate-forme mobile. En 2016, en travaillant avec un partenaire financier, FarmDrive a permis d’attribuer environ $130 000 de prêts à 400 agriculteurs.
    • ayachehbouni
       
      To this day, Farmdrive has more than 3000 farmers that uses its platform and, after working with a partner in 2016, it was able to procure about $130000 of loans to 400 farmers. The numbers speak of themselves, Farmdrive was able to reach its goal and expand it to a more ambitious one: reach even more farmers and help them more.
nourserghini

M-Pesa to send cash direct to China's WeChat users - Business Daily - 0 views

  • The partnership between Family Bank Limited and London-based financial technology firm SimbaPay will enable the 23,946,174 active M-Pesa users in Kenya to send money to over 1 billion active WeChat subscribers in China.
    • nourserghini
       
      Besides the previously mentioned 7 million of Kenyans, Simbapay is targeting an extra 23,946,174 Mpesa users to use its platform for further money transfers and this can only increase its value in the market.
hibaerrai

Thndr obtains brokerage licence, executes digital commission-free trading | ZAWYA MENA ... - 0 views

  • The company is keen to work with companies specialising in the financial technology (fintech) solutions field, to contribute to the development of the Egyptian capital market sector.The most prominent of these partnerships includes a contract with the Egyptian Company for Information Dissemination (EGID).
    • ayachehbouni
       
      As Thndr helps both individuals and companies to easily deal in the Egyptian stock exchange, working with companies specializing in the financial technology solutions field is a must.
  • Startup and equities trading platform, Thndr Securities Brokerage, has obtained approval from Egypt’s Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) to practice securities brokerage activities.Thndr is the first company in the Middle East to announce the provision of a zero commission on securities trading service.Its activities take place through an advanced electronic platform that enables dealers in the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) to view the latest developments and indicators at zero cost.
    • hibaerrai
       
      Thndr is the first fintech to have a brokerage license in Egypt. Also, they aim to help users invest easily in the Egyptian Stock Exchange by employing wero comission on traded securities.
mehdi-ezzaoui

Engagement Drivers in a Lending Marketplace: The Case for Kiva - ProQuest - 1 views

  • Engagement Drivers in a Lending Marketplace: The Case for Kiva
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    this article discusses the case of KIVA in engagement drivers.
nouhaila_zaki

M-Pesa - 2 views

  • One of the drives for Fintech innovations, like M-Pesa, is financial inclusion, which is mostly geared toward an underbanked or unbanked group of people.
    • nouhaila_zaki
       
      Financial inclusion is a main priority of M-Pesa.
  • M-Pesa is a virtual banking system that provides transaction services through a SIM card. Once the SIM has been inserted into the card slot of the mobile device, users can make payments and transfer money to vendors and family members with SMS messages. Users with no bank accounts can access the numerous M-Pesa outlets distributed across the country. The money that needs to be stored is given to the kiosk attendant, who transfers the amount in digital form to the user’s M-Pesa’s account. Cash collected from M-Pesa is deposited in bank accounts held by Safaricom. The bank accounts serve as regular checking accounts and are insured up to a maximum of 100,000 shillings (or $1000) by the Deposit Protection Fund. M-Pesa provides receipts as proof of transaction. For a transaction to take place, both parties have to exchange each other’s phone numbers because the phone numbers act as account numbers. After settlement, both parties receive an SMS notification with the full name of the counterparty and the amount of funds deposited or withdrawn from the user’s account. The mobile receipt, which is received within seconds, helps to promote transparency for all individuals involved in a transaction.
    • nouhaila_zaki
       
      This excerpt is important because it explains how this mobile banking service operates. 1. Payments are made through SMS messages. 2. Cash collected by M-Pesa is deposited in bank accounts held by Safaricom. 3. Phone numbers act as account numbers. 4. M-Pesa provides receipts as proof of transaction.
  • M-Pesa is a virtual banking system that provides transaction services through a SIM card. Once the SIM has been inserted into the card slot of the mobile device, users can make payments and transfer money to vendors and family members with SMS messages. Users with no bank accounts can access the numerous M-Pesa outlets distributed across the country. The money that needs to be stored is given to the kiosk attendant, who transfers the amount in digital form to the user’s M-Pesa’s account. Cash collected from M-Pesa is deposited in bank accounts held by Safaricom. The bank accounts serve as regular checking accounts and are insured up to a maximum of 100,000 shillings (or $1000) by the Deposit Protection Fund. M-Pesa provides receipts as proof of transaction. For a transaction to take place, both parties have to exchange each other’s phone numbers because the phone numbers act as account numbers. After settlement, both parties receive an SMS notification with the full name of the counterparty and the amount of funds deposited or withdrawn from the user’s account. The mobile receipt, which is received within seconds, helps to promote transparency for all individuals involved in a transaction.
    • ghtazi
       
      this article shows us how M-Pesa is a virtual system that provides transaction services through a SIM card. M-Pesa allows users to deposit, withdraw, transfer money, pay for goods and services (Lipa na M-Pesa), access credit and savings, all with a mobile device.
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  • A farmer has no bank account and wants to deposit his commodity sale proceeds of 1,000 shillings goes to an M-Pesa outlet and deposits the money with the kiosk agent or attendant. The agent, in turn, uses her phone to access the client’s account with the client’s registered phone number and credit the account for 1,000 shillings.
    • ghtazi
       
      M-Pesa target customers are anybody who has a phone.
  • M-Pesa is a mobile banking service that allows users to store and transfer money through their mobile phones. M-Pesa was introduced in Kenya as an alternative way for the population of the country to have access to financial services. Safaricom, the largest mobile phone operator in Kenya, launched M-Pesa in 2007. The service is a blend of two entities where M means mobile and Pesa means money or payment in the Swahili language.
  • Financial inclusion is an initiative that seeks to include residents who have no access to banks or who can’t afford the required minimum deposits in the digital banking era. In order for this initiative to succeed, different sectors must collaborate in sharing data with each other and build a meaningful digital platform.
    • kenzabenessalah
       
      I like how M-PESA gave opportunities for those who cannot afford to have bank accounts , an alternative to still have access to those services.
  • Through mobile payment services like M-Pesa, the standard of living in Kenya has improved greatly. Market traders, debt collectors, farmers, and cab drivers don’t need to carry around or transact in a large amount of cash. This means that the occurrence of theft, robbery, and fraud is reduced. Also, individuals and business owners don’t have to wait in long lines for hours to make their electricity and water bill payments because these can be made using M-Pesa.
    • samielbaqqali
       
      The mobile payment industry was revolutionized by M-Pesa. The value of this business in the financial industry is demonstrated by the fact that the term M-Pesa has a financial significance. I believe that by using digitalisation in a way that can benefit people and solve their problems, M-Pesa has gained its impact.
  • To combat fraud, Safaricom mandates that users of a Safaricom SIM card who want to register for M-Pesa have to do so with a valid government ID such as the Kenyan national identification card or a passport. This way, each transaction is marked with the identification of the party transferring, paying, depositing, or withdrawing money from an account.
    • ghtazi
       
      to combat fraud they use either a sim card, ID card, or passport. in this way every transaction made will be marked with identifications of the parties transferring money, paying or whatever action it was made.
  • To combat fraud, Safaricom mandates that users of a Safaricom SIM card who want to register for M-Pesa have to do so with a valid government ID such as the Kenyan national identification card or a passport. This way, each transaction is marked with the identification of the party transferring, paying, depositing, or withdrawing money from an account.
  • M-Pesa is one of the innovative tools that have been birthed from the collaboration of telecommunication and banking sectors in East Africa.M-Pesa began in Kenya and is being utilized in 10 countries, including India and Romania. Emergent technology in the financial sector, or Fintech, has made it possible for financial services and products, like M-Pesa, to be more accessible at small costs.M-Pesa makes it possible for unbanked people to pay for and receive goods and services using a mobile phone instead of utilizing a brick-and-mortar bank.
    • nourserghini
       
      this article explains that M-pesa is a virtual banking platform that gives the opportunity for unbanked or underbanked individuals to conduct transactions through a SIM card.
  • This cross-communication tactic used by M-Pesa is developing rapidly in sub-Saharan Africa, where the telecommunication and banking sectors are working together to create mobile banking services for those with limited access to traditional banking.
    • sawsanenn
       
      Mobile payment is progressively being used in emerging regions in which a large percentage of the population has little or no access to traditional banking such as Africa
  • Mobile money is increasingly being adopted in developing nations where a high percentage of the population has little or no access to traditional banking. Revolutionary services like Paga, MTN Mobile Money, Airtel Money, and Orange Money are disrupting the traditional payment systems used frequently by residents of emerging nations, by changing the economy from a cash society to a digital one.
    • nouhaila_zaki
       
      This excerpt is important because it reflects the increasing importance of mobile money i.e. as proposed by M-Pesa in developing countries.
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    M-Pesa revolutionized the mobile payment industry. The fact that the word M-Pesa got a financial meaning shows the importance of this company in the financial industry. I think that M-Pesa gained its influence by using digitalization in way that can help people and solve their problems.
mehdi-ezzaoui

Microfinance in online space: a visual analysis of kiva.org: Development in Practice: V... - 1 views

  • Microfinance practices were originally developed in offline contexts. Modern microfinance practices were based on development models for the financial and social empowerment of the poorest of poor in developing countries. Several of these practices drew from existing traditions of money lending within local communities that were reformed to be in sync with rural development and the empowerment of the underprivileged individual. In present ‘postmodern’ times, microfinance providers are using online tools in the hopes of broadening the reach and extending the advantages provided by such a model of micro-lending and micro-borrowing. In this article, we examine an online peer-to-peer lending and borrowing website, Kiva.org, which uses online social networking tools in microfinance. The study is thus a close look at the actual content of the website with a view to understanding the representational practices of online space through Internet mediated microfinance.
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    this article is interesting because its talks about online microfinance in general and talk about KIVA .
mohammed_ab

Crowdsourcing student loans: Student financing in Kenya with Kiva and Strathmore Univer... - 1 views

  • n 2012, the micro-lending institute Kiva partnered with Kenya’s Strathmore University to offer tuition loans to low-income students. The loans were crowdfunded by Kiva and distributed by Strathmore University, who selected applicants based on the criteria of having high academic performance and coming from a low-income household, among other requirements. From 2012 to 2018, Kiva fundraised USD 762,675, which was distributed to 84 students who received an average loan of USD 9,004. The program ended in 2018 because the delinquency rate had risen to 14.65%, with many students being unable to pay back their loan owing to scarce job opportunities after graduation (Kiva, 2018).
    • hichamachir
       
      Kiva is treating a very important point in the society. It's to facilitate students loans. I think that kiva is playing it smart at this point because as we know students loans can be expensive to get and kiva found a solution for which can make the company very successful.
  • In 2012, the micro-lending institute Kiva partnered with Kenya’s Strathmore University to offer tuition loans to low-income students. The loans were crowdfunded by Kiva and distributed by Strathmore University, who selected applicants based on the criteria of having high academic performance and coming from a low-income household, among other requirements. From 2012 to 2018, Kiva fundraised USD 762,675, which was distributed to 84 students who received an average loan of USD 9,004
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    I think that Kiva is a platform that could benefit different market segments. Their main value proposition is to help entrepreneurs find funds for their business. However, as it can be seen in this article, Kiva could also serve students who have difficulties in financing their studies. I think that this is the power of crowdfunding, It can be used in many areas of life.
mehdi-ezzaoui

https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/itgg.2007.2.1-2.31 - 1 views

    • mehdi-ezzaoui
       
      I started Kiva in 2005 with my wife, Jessica. Kiva is an online lending platform that allows individuals in the developed world to loan to small business people in the developing world. Kiva operates in the microfinance space and works with a growing network of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in more than thirty countries. Our MFI partners post the profiles of their loan applicants to the website. Internet users in the United States, Canada, Europe, and beyond make small loans via PayPal to these businesses. The businesses pay the lenders back over a period of about a year. Since starting, Kiva lenders have funded $6 million in loans this way.
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    from an idea to a leader in lending platform
hindelquarrouti

201805_Digital-Access_The-Future-of-Financial-Inclusion-in-Africa_v1.pdf - 1 views

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    Besides the overall strategy of the organization, the digital Strategy remains a main component. It should be guided by the vision and the mission of the business as well as the market conditions.
ghtazi

Mukuru international money transfers review | Finder South Africa - 0 views

  • Mukuru specialises in single transfers to friends and family, whether over the phone, through the app, online, bank transfers or through one of its branches. You can’t set up a recurring transfer through Mukuru and it doesn’t specialise in business transfers.You can make transfers to any of the following, depending on the country you’re sending to:Bank account. The money will be deposited directly into the bank account you choose. You’ll need to know the SWIFT code as well. This option is currently available for all supported countries.Cash pick-up location. You can send money to a cash pick-up location for your recipient to collect. If you choose this option, the person picking it up will need a valid photo ID on hand and the reference number. You’ll only be able to use this for transfers to Zimbabwe, Malawi, Namibia and Zambia.Mobile wallet. Send to your recipient’s smartphone wallet. This option is helpful if your recipient doesn’t have a bank account and isn’t near a cash pick-up location. You can use it in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique.Top-up card collection. This is used when you want to send money directly to your recipient’s card. You’ll need their card number and address. This is currently only available in Zimbabwe.
    • hibaerrai
       
      Mukuru proposes numerous services, however I believe that they should step up and propose new different services. Banks propose similar services. They should take advantage of new technologies and online platform to expand more.
  • The supported payment methods vary depending on where you are in the world but from South Africa, you’ll have a few options: make a cash deposit at one of Mukuru’s partner branches, online or telephone banking, bank transfer or through a Mukuru Money prepaid debit card, which all customers in South Africa qualify for. South Africa is the only country in Africa that allows bank transfers with Mukuru.
    • ghtazi
       
      Depending on where you are in the world, the supported payment methods differ, but you will have a few choices from South Africa: make a cash deposit at one of Mukuru's partner branches, online or telephone banking, bank transfer, or via a prepaid debit card for Mukuru Money, which all South African customers apply for. The only country in Africa that makes Mukuru bank transfers is South Africa.
aminej

Bismart Insurance | F6S - 0 views

  • We started Bismart as an online comparison platform that creates trasparency in the insurance Industry by allowing customers to compare benefits and price and chose insurance based on information. Through data analytics, we learnt that the new and non-traditional customer/ the digital and mobile customer has unique preference for processes and products.
  • We started Bismart as an online comparison platform that creates trasparency in the insurance Industry by allowing customers to compare benefits and price and chose insurance based on information. Through data analytics, we learnt that the new and non-traditional customer/ the digital and mobile customer has unique preference for processes and products.
    • aminej
       
      Bismart offers a completly new type of insurance different from the traditional one that will help many entrepreneurs and people who want to start their business
mehdi-ezzaoui

Should online micro-lending be for profit or for philanthropy? DhanaX and Rang De [1] |... - 1 views

  • The basic model of the Kiva intermediary model, illustrated in Figure 1, is that small lenders lend to Kiva. Kiva lends to MFIs. These MFIs then lend to poor people. Thus the MFIs are using Kiva as a financing agency. Kiva is actually providing a service to small lenders who want to participate directly in the microfinance movement. In the Kiva model, there is no interest given by Kiva to the lender and no interest charged by Kiva to the MFI. However, the MFI charges normal interest rates to the poor borrower. Kiva is a not-forprofit.
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    Kiva as an example of the article if whether microlending should be profitable or not
ayachehbouni

FinTech for All: Access to finance for Kenya's agriculture industry | by The LHoFT | Me... - 0 views

  • One of the greatest challenges we face working in rural areas of Africa is the lack of infrastructure and access to technology.
    • ayachehbouni
       
      For Fintechs to be operational and their services to work, technology is needed. Hence, the lack of access to technology is indeed, in my opinion, the biggest challenge that Fintechs like FarmDrive can face.
mohammed_ab

A competitor for Kiva? - 1 views

  • if someone doesn’t want to have that relationship but they want to microfinance, Kiva’s the best. For someone who’s interested in dialoguing and learning more and building relationships or having contact, this is where Mobile Movement becomes a new platform.
  • MobileMovement, a "next-generation microfinancing site, where donors and participants can communicate directly with young social entrepreneurs in the slums of Nairobi.
  • .if someone doesn’t want to have that relationship but they want to microfinance, Kiva’s the best. For someone who’s interested in dialoguing and learning more and building relationships or having contact, this is where Mobile Movement becomes a new platform.
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    Kiva has many competitors, but it still dominates the market for people who want to do microfinance.
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    This article talks about the different competitors of Kiva. What got my interest is that in Kiva, there isn't the possibility to dialogue and build contacts with the entrepreneurs you want to invest in. I believe that microfinance should be more than just money and funding, communication and sharing knowledge with the entrepreneur is also very important.
kenza_abdelhaq

Robo-Advisor and its key benefits in Fintech | Top TechCEO's - 1 views

  • Financial planning is the backbone for every type of business to operate efficiently with achieve targeted objective. A single mistake in the financial records or planning can drag the growth of an organization to zero. As a solution, Robo-Advisors serve a digital platform with automated functions backed up with algorithm-driven financial planning services. This digital platform allow to automate the procedure with least or can be said no human supervision. A question might be nudging your mind, “How a digital platform can be able to plan financial operations?” It is a worth question that must be answered before using such a high tech platform.
    • kenzabenessalah
       
      Since EasyEquities is all about investing, it needs to be very secure. Robo-advisors offer a digital platform where all the data is stored . They are a must have because a single, minor mistake from a human being could put the company at great risk.
  • Investing is a boon for an organization or an individual, but hardly people have any idea about investment. So, when they plan to invest their money for a better ROI, the very first solution hit their mind is wealth advisory team. But it makes their work more tedious by adding an interaction with a team and spending team for it. Robo-Advisor has brought a revolution in the finance sector with a new approach of automation. It is a digital assistant that work on various algorithms to manage financial portfolio of clients. It gives an enhanced and secure experience. This is possible with the help of machine learning and artificial intelligence. These tools are no longer confined till chat-bots; rather it has grown in the field of fintech too with a number of finance management aspects, such as automating loan process, data management, wealth management, voice assistance, customized finance advisory, and many more.
    • nouhaila_zaki
       
      This excerpt confirms the need for Robo-advising in fintech start-ups. Robo-advising appears to be a revolution in the financial sector which replaces the regular wealth advisory team that traditional investors are accustomed to. Robo-advising is also cheap and thus could interest our eligible companies.
    • kenza_abdelhaq
       
      Easy Equities company can benefit from the incorporation of roboadvisors in their platform to enhance their customer's experience and further facilitate the investment process.
nourserghini

Sending Money Within Africa: Here Are Reliable Platforms to Use - Dignited - 0 views

  • Simbapay is an Africa-focused money transfer startup that lets customers send money to friends and family around Africa in a fast, seamless, and cheap way.Platforms: Android and IOSCountries serving: All African countriesTransfer fees: Yes, but you can send up to £45,000 for free
    • nourserghini
       
      This article is interesting because it explains SimbaPay's services, platforms, countries and fees, but also because it mentions similar platforms for money transfer platforms in Africa that can be considered as competitors. These platforms are Chipper Cash, Rapid transfer, Barter and Eversend.
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