Friday, April 26

Tag: world bank

Meet Julaya, a startup solving payment frictions for the World Bank in Ivory Coast
23Aug By Africa Tech DigestNo Comments
Fintech, West Africa

Meet Julaya, a startup solving payment frictions for the World Bank in Ivory Coast

Grace Kouassi, an Ivorian construction retailer, goes through a lot of hassle when she has to pay employees their monthly salaries. Her challenges are not due to a lack of cash but stem from how best to disburse the funds. She has three options – use bank transfers, mobile money, or cash. In countries like Nigeria or South Africa, the first option, to an extent, is effective for business payments but not in Ivory Coast. Charges on real-time gross settlement (RTGS) interbank transfers can be as high as CFA17,000 ($30) and most times, the transfers take longer than expected – up to three days instead of a few hours – while also being prone to transaction issues. Continue reading
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World Bank to Invest $200 Million in Egypt Startups
24Apr By Africa Tech DigestNo Comments
Start-ups

World Bank to Invest $200 Million in Egypt Startups

WASHINGTON, April 17, 2019 – The World Bank announced today a new US$200 million investment project to support the next generation of reforms in Egypt aimed at creating more opportunities for young people and women. The project will focus on expanding the amount and access to credit for small and medium enterprises, which have proven to be a major source of growth and job creation.  The ‘Catalyzing Entrepreneurship for Job Creation’ project is designed to address the major obstacles that young people and women face when launching new businesses. In an economy where the financial system is dominated by banks lending primarily to mature businesses, the project will channel US$145 million mainly through non-bank financial institutions offering loans to small businesses. This pro...
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