Recent Blogs
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Zoona Is Putting APIs at the Core of Its Business: Here’s Why
What began as a side project has become central to Zoona's plans for growth. In this blog post, Zoona executives Brett Magrath and Bridgid Thomson discuss the importance of APIs at the company.Blog
Smart Phones, Smart Partners: Linking Asset Finance and Microfinance
One company offers microcredit. The other offers PAYGo financing for smartphones, tablets and solar home systems. In what may be a template for other microfinance institutions, they are helping each other to reach more low-income customers.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
Where Youth Join Trust Groups, Not Insurgency Groups
By providing a combination of financial and nonfinancial services to over 16,000 smallholders, a social enterprise in northern Nigeria is harnessing the power of agriculture to create jobs for youth and improve livelihoods.Blog
When Youth Entrepreneurship Training Meets Financial Inclusion
By working together to integrate entrepreneurship training and financial inclusion in Africa, youth-serving organizations and financial services providers could help young people build successful businesses and create jobs.Blog
Has Fintech Closed the Credit Gap? Not by a Long Shot
If funders want to spur job creation and economic growth, they’ll need to close the credit gap for small businesses in emerging markets. But to do this, they can’t depend solely on fintech.Blog
Sports Betting: Highway to Hell or On-Ramp to Digital Finance?
Sports betting is pervasive in Africa. What impact is it having on how youth use digital financial services?Blog
3 Principles for Funders of Youth Financial Inclusion
How can donors promote financial inclusion in a way that creates jobs for youth? Here are three guiding principles, based on the Mastercard Foundation's experience in Africa.Blog
Reaching the Next Generation of Financial Services Customers in Africa
A growing body of evidence shows young people's potential as users of financial services in Africa.Blog
How Do Kenyans Really Use M-PESA?
Transaction data shows mobile money agents are more like petrol stations than barber shops, with few customers showing loyalty to particular agents.Blog
6 Strategies to Promote Digital Financial Product Adoption Among Youth
Here are six insights about how to make financial services appeal to young people, coming out of a digital savings pilot in Tanzania.Blog
Youth in Agriculture: A New Generation Leverages Technology
Digital financial services can help young people see a future in agriculture.Blog
Beyond Regulations: What’s Driving Mobile Money in Côte d’Ivoire?
Regulations helped spur the recent growth of mobile money in Côte d'Ivoire, but there's more to the story.Blog
Expanding the Horizons of Pay-as-You-Go Solar
As PAYGo solar companies seek to expand into new and challenging markets, they will need to lower their costs and improve repayment rates.Blog
Regulations Drive Success of Digital Finance in Côte d’Ivoire
The year 2015 marked a turning point for financial inclusion in Côte d'Ivoire, as nonbanks were allowed to issue e-money. Since then, mobile money has driven big increases in account ownership.Blog
These Emerging Fintech Innovations Are Centered on Poor Customers
After two years of piloting with 18 fintechs around the world, CGAP has identified several fintech innovations that advance financial inclusion.Blog
PAYGo Solar Opens Pathways to Microfinance in Rural Senegal
A microfinance institution and pay-as-you-go solar company have teamed up to expand rural, low-income customers' access to microfinance based on their solar loan repayment histories.Blog
We Need to Talk About Credit
Digital credit is a testament to the ways in which technology and new business models can assist in the expansion of financial services to low-income households. But it also points to potential hazards of letting a market develop unchecked.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