Integrating digital payments into the economies of developing nations addresses issues of economic growth and individual financial empowerment.

"Digital payments offer immediate benefits for both senders and receivers in developing economies, as well as the ability of such payments to increase citizen access to affordable financial tools."

"The benefits of digital payments go well beyond the convenience many people in developed economies associate with the technology."

"Action plan for governments to adopt, in order to realize the benefits of digital payments:
• Digitize government payments and receipts, including social transfers.
• Engage actively on the regulatory agenda.
• Convene public and private sectors to create a basic technical payment platform infrastructure, across which providers can compete on product development.
• Create an enabling environment that fosters private-sector innovation.
• Recognize the role of remittance providers in offering a digital entry point to formal financial services for senders and receivers."

More info here.

We opened the gates of the farm for the first time on Sunday and we are delighted with the support from local residents. Around 150 people came along to our barbeque and family day to find out about the plans for the farm, meet the organisers and share their ideas for the site. They were also invited to feed back on the plans and share any concerns they might have.

Francis Ball, Director of Bridge Community Farms, said:

“We have been delighted by the turn out and by the overwhelmingly positive support from local residents. People seem pleased that the site is being turned into something that will foster community spirit and provide opportunities for local people. We have had dozens of offers of volunteer support and some brilliant suggestions for summer fetes, live music events and children activities when we are up and running next year.

“It was also great to be able to reassure people that they can still walk their dogs on part of the site and that we aren’t building houses or cutting down trees. In fact we are going to plant a lot more trees, and even have a plan for a small forest school. We know how troubling change can be and we wanted to make sure people felt comfortable with our plans. It will be a space for the whole community.”

A detailed response to all the feedback gathered at the event will be published in this month’s edition of the local council resident’s newsletter, Netherpool News, and on this website soon.

Source Econsultancy.com

App engagement, measured by launches, was 88% higher on average among mobile app users worldwide who had enabled push messages.

"Ecommerce exceeded all the others with a 278% increase in launches among users with push notifications enabled vs. disabled. Localytics noted that personalized and targeted messages from ecommerce apps, such as reduced prices on items of interest, could drive engagement and interaction."

"Music also fared well, with 177% higher engagement among push message users, and travel as well as food and drink both joined the over 100% club, too."

"Push notifications also improved app retention. Users who had enabled push messages were between two and three times more likely to launch the app over the four months post-download. And compared with Localytics’ figure of one in five apps being used just once, this study found much lower abandonment rates after one-time use among push users: 11%. Meanwhile, more than half of push-enabled users (53%) accessed an app 11 times or more after download, vs. 38% of non-users."

More info here.

In terms of their markets and their business models, the vast majority of companies surveyed are under significant pressure from the shift to digital.

"The landscape for brands has been fundamentally altered. The rise of the mobile-first, always-online consumer has meant companies have had to adapt or in many cases completely relearn what they previously knew about marketing."

"The digital age has brought new companies to the fore, thriving in an environment they helped to nurture and further revolutionise, but even these would companies wouldn’t be so blasé to say that they are perfectly comfortable with continued shifts towards an always-on lifestyle. 4% say that ‘little has changed’ in their sector over the last several years."

"19% are driving that change and more than 40% are working to adapt to it despite feeling challenged. But for 36% of the consumer enterprises we studied, market shifts have left them feeling ‘under pressure and vulnerable."

"55% of mainstream companies say that they’ve already created some fluidity in roles and lowered silo walls to a significant extent."

More info here.