credit? No problem - just take a test. That's the message being delivered to more than 70,000 small-business owners in developing countries where credit ratings are rare and many potential entrepreneurs keep their money in cash rather than bank accounts. Banks in 16 countries are using a psychometric test to predict behavior - specifically, whether someone will pay back a loan. Originally a Harvard doctoral project, the Entrepreneurial Finance Lab's test has increasingly won the confidence of risk-averse bankers in places where, many economists believe, credit bottlenecks are severely stunting growth.

IFC is among the top equity investors in India in terms of number of deals.

Mobile Money is a fast-moving space, and a lot happened in 2013. For those of you looking to catch up, here is our list of 10 things you need to know about mobile money.

Small Scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria has called on the Federal Government to establish a separate micro-finance bank run by and for women only, to address gender disparity among other challenges. Mrs. Sarah Yapwah, the National President of the organisation, made the call in an interview with newsmen in Abuja. According to her, the way agriculture-related policies are being implemented in the country does not favour women. She advised that government should emulate the Government of India to address the bottlenecks in the present process.

Australia’s Female SME Owners – a snapshot 72% finance their business out of their own savings 59% started their venture on their own 65% say it was one of the most challenging things they have done

At the 5th Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) Financial Inclusion Forum, held 4-6 November 2013 in Fortaleza participants discussed financial education, protection and innovation to achieve high-quality financial inclusion, along with various commercial banks, government departments, academia, international stakeholders and members of the private sector. The audience was also eager to take advantage of the opportunity to learn from the Bank of Tanzania’s (BOT) experience in developing and implementing mobile financial services (MFS). Both BCB and BOT are leading member institutions of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI).

Crowd-funding and crowd-investing platforms have ballooned in popularity over the past year. What is your assessment of raising capital in this manner?

Fund-raising is perhaps one of the toughest challenges a business or community project faces.
Over the past few years the financial crisis resulted in a tightening of credit, making capital harder to access. These capital sources were often individuals, financial institutions or angel investors to whom the initiator pitched a project in the hope of funding. Often these sources were familiar and local to the initiator.
Technological advancement has transformed the way we communicate. Digital platforms have enabled online communities that offer national, regional and global networking opportunities. In my opinion leveraging online technology is a direct, open and far more “democratic” route to accessing capital.

Digital Financial Services (DFS) offers the potential to bring billions of previously financially excluded customers into the ambit of formal financial services.It has the power to transcend the barriers of financial exclusion as it reduces the costs associated with the small value transactions; reaches out to larger numbers of people with innovative, low cost technology (mobile phones, card based systems, POS machines etc) and delivery channels (airtime sellers, grocery shop owners etc.); overcomes the issue of lack of physical infrastructure needed to distribute the financial products.While there is a huge opportunity to leverage digital technology, there are challenges that can potentially hamper the potential.

see below and the link if below hard to read...a chance for some of the financial institutions participating in this group to put forward their credentials?  worth a go...let's increase the choice for the judges.!  matt  

The Financial Times and IFC Launch Transformational Business Awards to Showcase Innovation

IFCIn Washington:Julie ZieglerPhone: (202) 473-0128E-mail: JZiegler1@ifc.org FTIn London:Kristina ErikssonPhone: +44 (0) 20 7873 4961E-mail: Kristina.Eriksson@ft.com  Washington, December 12, 2013—The Financial Times and IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, today launched an awards program to showcase business initiatives that can create long-term, transformative solutions to environmental, social, and corporate governance challenges, particularly in developing nations.The FT/IFC Transformational Business Awards: Sustainable Solutions to Today’s Development Challenges expand the FT/IFC Sustainable Finance Awards, which established themselves over eight years as the leading global awards for environmentally and socially responsible banking and investment. The 2013 Sustainable Finance Awards attracted a record 254 entries from 221 organizations in 61 countries. The new program will highlight innovative, commercially viable, and replicable products and services that address development needs in areas such as infrastructure, energy, food and water, education and health. It also recognizes the use of technology to empower the poor and efforts to reverse environmental and social degradation. Martin Dickson, U.S. managing editor of the Financial Times and co-chair of the Transformational Business Awards judging panel, said: “We’ve made the Transformational Business Awards open to all organizations – financial and non-financial – across both the private and public sectors. They focus on specific projects and transactions and the impact those initiatives have on the problems they are targeting.” Nena Stoiljkovic, IFC Vice President, Business Advisory Services, and fellow judging panel co-chair, said: “We want to recognize financial institutions and companies that have developed innovative solutions that can work in many markets with a focus on long-term value creation for businesses and the communities in which they operate.” The FT/IFC Transformational Business Awards will reward innovation, impact, replicability and commercial viability on a transactional basis across the following categories:• Achievement in Project Financeo Infrastructureo Energyo Food/Watero Educationo Health• Achievement in Information and Communications Technology• Achievement in Transformational Finance• Achievement in Inclusive Business Special attention will be given to public-private partnerships. Entries are being accepted until March 14, 2014. Entry forms and criteria will be available soon at www.ft-live.com/transformationalbusiness. The winners in each category will be announced at a special dinner at the InterContinental London Park Lane on June 12, 2014. The dinner will conclude the inaugural FT/IFC Transformational Business Conference, a major one-day summit that will gather policy-makers, business leaders and strategists from around the world to discuss new ways of tackling the key challenges facing emerging economies and societies. In conjunction with the awards, IFC will be hosting a series of Transformational Business Days in cities around the world from December 2013 to February 2014 to provide more information about the new awards program and to promote best practice in transformational business and finance. PwC is technical advisor for the awards.