Mobile payment users worldwide are forecast to increase 2.1 percent to 109 million by the end of 2010, a US-based research firm said in a report.

Mobile technology has the greatest chance of delivering financial services to Africa’s estimated 325 million low-income, un-banked people. Examples of African financial innovations abound and the results are being felt across the continent, where mobile phone penetration continues to skyrocket. Dianna Games writes about the success stories and the need for investors to think from the ground up.

A renowned microfinance training centre in Italy will welcome representatives from five Pacific Island countries.

He would have been a hardcore banker had he not branched out to microfinance. And that was because “it is a business with a social mission offering double bottom line satisfaction to all stakeholders”. Udaia Kumar, MD Share Microfin Limited Interviewed by Pranab Ghosh, Hindustan Times.

Matthias Omeh, president, National Association of Microfinance Banks (NAMB), on Monday advised microfinance banks to partner with credit bureaux to ascertain the status of their customers.

2010 Legatum Africa Awards to Recognise and Reward Africa's Entrepreneurial Business Leaders. Awards Ceremony to be Hosted in Accra, Ghana

The axiom "give a man a fish, feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime" is widely accepted among the international development community, and for good reason. But taken on its own, this axiom leaves out very important principles.

This is an extraordinary story of women's empowerment in rural India. Women in Satara district in Maharashtra run a bank and a B-school successfully.

Sunny Mahant had been working as a product marketing manager for nine years at Cisco when he experienced an epiphany on a trip to India. On that trip, Mahant and his wife, photographer Geidre Nakutyte, witnessed firsthand the brutish conditions under which very young children work in India, and the extreme poverty suffered by their families. He came home determined to make a difference in the lives of young Indians.

A 29-year-old lawyer is kicking off a new microfinance organization Tuesday that will help others as she herself was helped.

Barclays and international development organisations CARE International (CARE) and Plan have launched Banking on Change in Ghana, a unique and pioneering microfinance initiative aimed at reaching half a million people in ten countries across the world and sixty three thousand people in Ghana.

The Microfinance Association (MA), an international membership organization for practitioners in the microfinance industry, has launched its Global Academy Program (GAP). The three-month program, developed by MA and Marconi University of Italy, is aimed at graduates seeking to develop a professional career in microfinance or international development.

Kingsolver, the bestselling author writes of a visit to the rural countryside of Orissa in northeastern India, where she interacted with the Akandalamuni Women's Club, which has 15 members. "Like millions of women in South Asia, they started their own microcredit group. Attending twice-monthly meetings and putting two rupees per month (about four cents) into a joint savings account qualified them for small loans, collateralized by group guarantee. This year they borrowed enough to rent a five-acre plot for growing sugar cane, from which they share the proceeds."

A fresher, integrated approach to workplace learning can have a positive role in India's ability to turn its unique demographics into a dividend writes Angie Taras

This seaside city is known as a rich stockpile of art deco architecture, the hub of Morocco's economic growth and the setting of an all-time classic movie starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. But Casablanca is also the capital of a bleaker aspect of modern Morocco -- sprawling slums, where huge families are packed into shanties with tin roofs rusted by the ocean winds, and goats and donkeys munch stray garbage.

Microinsurance has been recognized worldwide as a potential instrument for promoting safety nets to extend financial inclusion to poor households. However, contrary to general expectations, micro insurance delivery has not achieved substantial scale as compared to the micro finance movement. Insurers in India operate in a regulatory environment that requires them to achieve priority sector targets and meet rural and social sector obligations. Though, there clearly exists an untapped and largely unexplored market for insurance in India, the ability of risk carriers to operate microinsurance schemes viably is constrained by the lack of reliable data and the absence of alternate means of risk assessment. Adequate emphasis on research and development of suitable risk management systems is critical to make markets work for the poor.

The European Microfinance Platform [e-MFP] was founded formally in 2006. They are a growing network of approximately 100 organisations and individuals active in the area of microfinance. Their principal objective is to promote co-operation amongst European microfinance bodies working in developing countries, by facilitating communication and the exchange of information. They are a multi-stakeholder organisation representative of the European microfinance community. e-MFP members include banks, financial institutions, government agencies, NGOs, consultancy firms, researchers and universities.

The National Employment Fund wants to improve the performance of microfinance institutions in Cameroon, considering the role the sector plays in the country's economy. A workshopo was organised to that effect yesterday in Yaounde to build the capacity of workers and render the sector more productive.

Microcredit programs throughout the world are a means of giving low-income, even very poor, families a way to earn their own money and work their way out of poverty. These programs in Guam give small loans, or other financial services, for people who want to run their own small business, according to the Microcredit Summit Campaign.