Data from Bank Negara Malaysia, the country’s central bank, illustrate a downward trend in household savings from 2018 through the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The latest data available indicate that “two thirds of self-employed respondents have savings equivalent to one month’s expenses, while 83 percent
Tag: UNCDF
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: ESCAP, SHE Investments, UNCDF Build Bookkeeping App Kotra Riel to Assist Women Microentrepreneurs in Cambodia
The UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and Cambodia’s SHE (Support Her Enterprise) Investments recently released a bookkeeping app, Kotra Riel,’ targeting
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: UNCDF, Women’s World Banking Partner on Digital Financial Inclusion for Women
The UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and the US-based nonprofit Women’s World Banking (WWB) recently launched a strategic partnership to increase “access to digital financial services for women and girls, specifically in emerging markets and least developed countries.” The goals include to boost
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Mobi-Changa, ThundaFund, UNCDF Crowdfunding Platform to Help Youth, Women in The Gambia Raise Money for MSMEs, Build Financial Histories
As part of the EU-funded “Jobs, Skills and Finance (JSF) for Youth and Women in The Gambia Programme,” the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) is partnering with crowdfunding platforms Mobi-Changa and Thundafund to develop a new fundraising platform. The service will allow individuals to donate to and invest in micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs)
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: SafeBoda Uganda, UNCDF Launch E-commerce Platform for Market Vendors Looking to Maintain Operations During Pandemic
SafeBoda, a Uganda-based owner of an app for hailing motorcycle rides in three countries, and the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), a UN agency that supports small businesses in developing countries, recently partnered to launch an e-commerce platform. This is a response to the
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP UP: “Digitizing Agricultural Payments: Lessons from Uganda’s Coffee Value Chain,” Published by CGAP, UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF)
This is a summary of a paper by Amani M’Bale, Rashmi Pillai and Nathan Were; published by CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) and UNCDF; June 2018; 40 pages; available at
https://www.cgap.org/sites/default/files/researches/documents/Working-Paper-Digitizing-Agricultural-Payments-June-2018.pdf
This paper focuses on the digitization of payments in Uganda for the coffee industry, which accounts for 20 percent of the country’s GDP. Mobile Money for the Poor (MM4P), a program of the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), worked with Ugandan
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) Subsidizes Singtel to Enable Mobile Remittances from Singapore to Myanmar
The UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), a US-based agency of the UN that focuses on financial inclusion and other forms of sustainable development, recently launched a three-year collaboration with Singapore-based Singtel to extend the company’s remittance services to Myanmar. Singtel, which provides
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Government of Luxembourg Pledges $1.4m to UNCDF for Work Toward SDGs Including Microfinance
The government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg recently announced its 2019 contribution to support the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) in working toward the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) in least developed countries
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: UNCDF, ITC Unveil $18m “Jobs, Skills and Finance for Women and Youth in The Gambia Programme”
The UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and the Switzerland-based International Trade Center (ITC) recently launched the “Jobs, Skills and Finance (JSF) for Women and Youth in The Gambia Programme” with the aim of creating approximately 3,000
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Kiva, UNCDF, UNDP Using Blockchain to Build Digital ID System in Sierra Leone to Boost Financial Inclusion
President Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone recently signed a memorandum of understanding under which US-based nonprofit Kiva, the UN Capital Development
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: UNCDF, EU, Private Sector Foundation of Uganda, Uganda Development Bank Financing SMEs via “Support to Agricultural Revitalization and Transformation” (START) Program
The UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), the EU, the Private Sector Foundation of Uganda and the Uganda Development Bank recently launched the Support to Agricultural Revitalization and Transformation (START) program to finance small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) involved in agriculture in northern Uganda. The goals of the program include addressing the