Recent Blogs
Blog
How are Mobile Money Agents Protecting Customers’ Data in Uganda?
Recent qualitative research in Uganda conducted by CGAP and MicroSave Consulting (MSC) identified good practices for responsible agents in safeguarding their customers’ data and the role that providers can play in promoting these practices.Blog
Flipping the Switch: How Locking Assets Unlocks Credit for the Poor
A new study out of Uganda offers strong evidence that lock-out technology can enable providers to sustainably lend to low-income customers, who may need credit for school fees and other critical expenses.Blog
In Uganda, Solar Home Systems Help Students Stay in School
A pay-as-you-go (PAYGo) solar provider in Uganda is proving that an often-overlooked benefit of PAYGo – financial inclusion – can also affect education outcomes by keeping kids in the classroom.Blog
The Path to Financial Health Begins in Adolescence
It is critical that youth financial inclusion programs tailor interventions based on young people's life stage to achieve long-term impact on financial health.Blog
8 Lessons from Using a Messaging Platform to Support Digital Payments
Here are eight insights on how to use messaging platforms to increase financial literacy among smallholders.Blog
MTN Uganda Opens Up Mobile Money APIs
Uganda's largest telco just opened APIs that enable local developers to build apps that leverage its popular mobile money platform. Here are some lessons learned from MTN Uganda's open APIs journey so far.Blog
Off-Grid Solar Company Helping Customers Pay School Fees
In Africa, some of the most innovative ideas in education financing are coming from an unlikely source - an off-grid solar company.Blog
Bank-Led Digital Finance: Who’s Really Leading?
In countries where regulators favor “bank-led” digital finance models, nonbanks are playing important – even dominant – roles in digital finance.Blog
East African Interoperability: Dispatches from the Home of M-Pesa
Kenyans can now send money between the country's two largest digital wallet services, Airtel and M-Pesa, the latest step toward interoperability in East Africa.Blog
5 Insights into Credit Scoring for Smallholders
Agricultural lending remains a frontier area even as the alternative lending space fills up with new players. Here are some early insights from CGAP's work on alternative credit scoring for smallholder farmers in Uganda.Blog
FinTech Partnerships: Choose Carefully, Then Evolve
FinTech startups in developing markets are leveraging partnerships to reach customers as diverse as women's savings groups, dairy cooperatives and smallholder farmers.Blog
FinTech for the Poor: Not All Virtual, Not All Apps
FinTech isn't always about rolling out a dazzling new smartphone app. In places where USSD phones are the norm, it means something quite different.Blog
Can Uganda Reduce Financial Exclusion to 5% in 5 Years?
Here's what you need to know about Uganda's new financial inclusion strategy, which aims to cut financial exclusion from 15 to 5 percent by 2022.Blog
Making Digital Payments Work for Low-Income Farmers
From hurling sacks of money out of planes to transporting cash in armored cars, the methods used to pay farmers in Uganda can be unsafe and inefficient. So why haven't digital payments taken off?Blog
Mapping Africa’s Latest Innovations in Digital Finance
CGAP received nearly 200 proposals from digital financial services providers across Africa interested in piloting new products. A look at those proposals — from 30 countries — shows that innovations are spreading beyond hot spots like Kenya.Blog
Women’s Financial Empowerment Is the Tide that Can Lift All Boats
Changing gender norms doesn't mean empowering women at the expense of men. When women have a voice in financial decisions, it can benefit the entire household.Blog
Schools in Africa Aren’t Taking Advantage of Mobile Money – Why?
Mobile money can make paying school fees easier and cheaper, so why aren't more schools adopting it? Part of the solution could involve a simple app for inexpensive smartphones and tablets.Blog
Meeting Education Finance Needs in Rural Uganda
In Uganda, CGAP partnered with a solar company to better understand the education finance needs of rural customers and explore how pay-as-you-go solar companies can get into education financing.Blog
Paying for School: 6 Insights for Better Financial Services
The inability to pay fees and other education expenses keeps many children out of school. What is the extent of these challenges, who is affected and what kinds of financial services could help?Blog