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‘The Wall Street Journal’ Launches Multipliers of Prosperity
March 18, 2015 in Center for Financial Inclusion, Client Focus, Client Protection, Policy, Smart Campaign, Technology, Women and Financial Inclusion | Tags: Aging and Financial Inclusion, Barack Obama, Bill Gates, India, Infographics, MetLife Foundation, Mobile Money, Regulation, The Guardian, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, United States, Video, What Happens to Microfinance Clients Who Default?, Women | by Center for Financial Inclusion | Leave a comment
> Posted by Center Staff
Over the past year, financial inclusion leaders and advocates have bolstered airtime for banking the unbanked. In August, The Guardian launched a hub for financial inclusion content. In recent months, The New York Times produced an extensive reporting series on the consumer ills of the U.S. subprime auto loan market. In January, U.S. President Obama publicly commended and partnered with India in its robust inclusion efforts. Also in January, Bill Gates spoke about mobile money on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Today, The Wall Street Journal added its considerable weight with the launch of Multipliers of Prosperity, a micro-site sponsored by MetLife Foundation that explores the challenges faced in advancing financial inclusion.
Indian Government, USAID, and International Organizations Partner in India’s Next Steps Towards Financial Inclusion
February 11, 2015 in Branchless Banking, Center for Financial Inclusion, Client Focus, Financial Inclusion, Technology | Tags: Aadhaar, Accion, Agent Banking, Barack Obama, Better Than Cash Alliance, Coca-Cola, Digital Finance, Electronic Payments, Financial Inclusion Insights, India, Mobile Money, Mobile Network Operators, Narendra Modi, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Reserve Bank of India, USAID, World Economic Forum | by Center for Financial Inclusion | Leave a comment
> Posted by Andrew Fixler, Freelance Journalist
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Indian financial inclusion advocates enjoyed a brief victory lap and an international spotlight in January, and they are poised to move into 2015 with a renewed push. On January 20, Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was presented with a Guinness World Record for the fastest financial inclusion roll-out in history, the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY). In one week, between 23 and 29 August 2014, 18,096,130 bank accounts were opened through this national inclusion strategy. Since that date the number has grown to over 123 million across the country. During his January 25 joint address with Prime Minister Modi, President Obama commended Indian leadership’s commitment to prioritize financial inclusion for all Indian citizens, and pledged American support.
In a January 27 press release, USAID affirmed Obama’s pledge, and announced its intention to partner with over 20 Indian, U.S., and international organizations with the support of the World Economic Forum (WEF) to work alongside the Indian government “to expand the ability of Indian consumers and businesses to participate in the formal economy.”
Microfinance and the Economic Toll of Ebola
September 18, 2014 in Center for Financial Inclusion, Client Focus, Microfinance | Tags: Barack Obama, BRAC, CARE, Eboli, Foundation for Women, Guinea, Health, Jim Kim, Liberia, Margaret Chan, Microfinance, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, West Africa, World Bank, World Health Organization | by Center for Financial Inclusion | Leave a comment
> Posted by Jeffrey Riecke, Communications Associate, CFI
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New World Bank analysis indicates that along with the already devastating loss of life, the Ebola outbreak could cause “potentially catastrophic” economic effects on West African countries, especially in the three hardest hit. According to the analysis, Liberia’s GDP could fall by 12 percent, Sierra Leone’s by 9 percent, and Guinea’s by 2 percent.
Efforts to contain the epidemic are fueling much of the economic slowdown, like the closings of businesses, transportation infrastructure, and critical air and sea links with other nations. As mentioned in a post on this site a few weeks ago, microfinance institutions are being affected, too.
Between 80 and 90 percent of the economic losses suffered from Ebola are related to containment behavior, a dynamic consistent with recent SARS and H1N1 outbreaks. A lower supply of available workers – due to employee illness, death, and caregiving – is a smaller factor. At the same time, health systems are collapsing under the onslaught of the epidemic, leaving those with other serious illnesses unable to receive treatment. These conditions cause shortages, panicked buying, and speculation, which lead to rises in food prices and inflation. Economic life in the affected areas was already extremely tough to begin with. In Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, more than 50 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.
President Obama Highlights Need for Small and Medium Enterprise Financing for Africa
July 30, 2014 in Center for Financial Inclusion, Financial Education, Microfinance, Savings, Youth and Financial Inclusion | Tags: Africa, Barack Obama, D.C., Kenya, Kinshasa, Microfinance, Omidyar Network, SME Financing, United States, Washington, Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), Youth, Zimbabwe | by Center for Financial Inclusion | Leave a comment
> Posted by Eric Zuehlke, Web and Communications Director, CFI
It’s a big couple of weeks for Africa here in Washington, D.C. On Monday, President Obama hosted a town hall meeting to welcome this year’s class of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI). Launched in 2010 by Obama, YALI supports young African leaders as they spur economic growth and prosperity, strengthen democratic governance, and enhance peace and security across Africa. These Fellows spend six weeks at one of 20 U.S. universities and colleges undergoing leadership training and mentoring in business and entrepreneurship, civic engagement, and public administration. Next week, the State Department will host the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit with heads of state from 50 African countries to advance the U.S. Administration’s focus on trade and investment in Africa and discuss security and democratic development.
Nearly one-third of all Africans are between the ages of 10 and 24, and approximately 60 percent are below 35. YALI is tapping into the drive and energy of Africa’s youth to effect change. Many Fellows in the YALI network are focused on improving access to financial services, whether it’s encouraging a savings culture in Zimbabwe, establishing microfinance programs for women and youth in Kenya, or creating a microfinance program to help start medical supply stores in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Inclusionist vs. the Affordable Care Act
May 29, 2014 in Center for Financial Inclusion, Client Focus, Financial Education | Tags: Barack Obama, Financial Education, Marketing, United States | by Center for Financial Inclusion | 1 comment
> Posted by Kim Wilson, Fellow, Center for Emerging Market Enterprises and the Feinstein International Center, Tufts University
#481120999 / gettyimages.com
#481120999 / gettyimages.com
A few months ago, the instructor of a user design workshop challenged the class to redraft the Healthcare.gov website, the official site of the Affordable Care Act.
In a flash, my 23-year old classmate and team member, Sam, deftly sketched out a new landing page and a few forms. We had time left over to chat. It was Sam’s chance to question the very existence of the site itself.
Sam complained that the Affordable Care Act seemed neither affordable nor about care. As a healthy freelancer he would be soon forced to purchase an expensive financial product – health insurance. And a quick search informed him that if he did not comply he could plan on spending $695 to opt out. Sam turned to me and said, “I don’t know where to begin.”
Projected to cost $1.36 trillion dollars by 2023, the Affordable Care Act is one of the biggest financial inclusion experiments in the world. It requires that every resident of the U.S. participate in a financial scheme to purchase health insurance.
In making the product fully inclusive, U.S. President Barack Obama and proponents of the bill could have followed the advice of many of the financial education skeptics I call “inclusionists”: The inclusionists dismiss high touch financial education as a key part of financial inclusion. The arguments against high touch education run thus.
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