While peer-to-peer (P2P) lending is hailed as a route to create financial inclusion, it still has little impact on bridging the gender gap. Female borrowers are generally seen as more...
Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are an important segment in the economies of member states in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Across the five countries of Indonesia, Malaysia,...
Women’s World Banking’s research has shown that women are inherent savers, managing to save on average 10 to 15 percent of their earnings despite low and often unpredictable incomes. However,...
E-payments hold a broad range of promises for individuals, communities and economies at large. Adaptation to digital transactions is already having a transformative impact on societies through a lowering of...
A recent article on e27 highlighted Impact Terra, a Myanmar social startup that provides digital services to farmers and organisations. Its mobile app, Golden Paddy, offers early identification of pest and diseases and flood...
With the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Economic Community set to come into effect by the end of 2015, retail e-commerce offers a unique opportunity to connect millions of...
Sahib Anandsongvit had a problem: his family, who ran a boutique hotel business in Bangkok, constantly needed to find skilled workers to repair rooms, clean facilities, or perform other services...
As an increasing number of policymakers, governments and international development organizations focus on online platforms as an economic development strategy, and to increase employment, it becomes important to better understand...
The lucrative promise of e-commerce is alluring for developing economies, particularly in Asia. Considering this emerging market of around 4.8 billion people with transaction value of USD 2.35 trillion in...
In February 2016 at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the mobile industry became the first industry to commit to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), an ambitious plan unanimously adopted in...
To the hundreds of millions of people in Asia with access to the web, online platforms have emerged as valuable tools for navigating this connected world. In sectors as diverse...
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has played a key role in the peace, prosperity and geopolitical stability of its 10 member economies: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia,...
The universe of small and medium-sized firms is very mixed. In the majority of countries, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are defined as firms employing between 10 and 250 people....
Digitally driven economic growth continues to be one of the few bright spots in a sluggish global economy. Reducing or eliminating numerous factors that inhibit online interactions and exchange could...