Kiev's Insane Housing Market
Svetlana Nikolaevna had never seen so much cash in her life. It was her family’s life savings, a huge stack of $100 bills, totaling $250,000. The girl behind the glass was counting it, verifying the...
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Why does the legal environment matter for women’s access to capital?
When asked about what she thought was key in advancing women’s rights, Cherie Blair, lawyer and founder of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, replied, “I believe that actually financial...
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Banking on Women in Egypt
Empowering women entrepreneurs is good for development and business. Tune in to World Bank Live on October 11, 201210:30 a.m JST. to hear Liberia President Ellen Johnson-Sirleafand World Bank Group...
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Sleeping giantess awakes
Empowering women entrepreneurs is good for development and business. Tune in to World Bank Live on October 11, 201210:30 a.m JST. to hear Liberia President Ellen Johnson-Sirleafand World Bank Group...
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“Empowering women is smart economics”
As World Bank Managing Director Caroline Anstey said in her remarks at last Thursday’s event on women in the private sector, women make up nearly 50 percent of the world’s population. Despite this,...
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Towards A Business Model For Funding African Startups
Note: This blog post is adapted from a much longer discussion by the author under the same title that was published at Tekedia on January 7, 2013. You can read that blog post here. Small sections of...
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The Gender Gap in Access to Finance
International Women’s Day is when we celebrate the strides made towards equality, but it also reminds us that gender is a powerful determinant of economic opportunities, particularly in developing...
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One billion people banked through the post
Image courtesy of UPUIn October 2012, when the first version of the Global Panorama was published, several news agencies and papers wrote: “UN urges increase in role of financial services across global...
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Non-traditional private equity financing can be a win-win solution for SMEs
(Credit: Elis Alves, Flickr Creative Commons)The difficulties faced by Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in getting finance, especially in the developing world, have been well documented. The...
View ArticleCan mainstream media help improve financial decisions?
</p><p>Financial education is important, yet there is a considerable knowledge gap in determining how best to deliver it. Recently, the literature on careful evaluations of financial...
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One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to financial inclusion
Last April 21, representatives from government, the private sector, and the financial inclusion world came together for Financial Inclusion Pathways for Women and the Poor. Panels covered a range of...
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Financial Inclusion: Is Improved Borrower Identification the Silver Bullet?
Will improved identification accelerate financial inclusion? (Credit: Kkalyan, Flickr Creative Commons) Wherever individuals are excluded from formal financial services the source of the problem is...
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Can Islamic Microfinance spur Inclusive Prosperity?
Can Islamic Microfinance give more people access to the financial services they need to grow their business? (Credit: DFID, Flickr Creative Commons) Research has shown that financial sector development...
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Can Islamic Finance spur Inclusive Growth & Sustainable Development?
Islamic finance can connect millions around the globe to the economy (Credit: The Reboot, Flickr)In the wake of the global financial and economic crisis, the need for a new development model which is...
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Are you financially literate or financially capable?
‘Imagine you have a lot of mangoes on your farm and your neighbor has lots of tomatoes. You make a bargain and he says he will give you three tomatoes for every mango you give him. If you give him...
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