Central Bank of Lesotho

The Mastercard Foundation is helping expand access to finance across Africa by deploying credit capital through partnerships with financial institutions, governments, and development organizations. This article explores how the Foundation’s financing approach supports small businesses, young entrepreneurs, and underserved communities while strengthening local lending ecosystems across multiple markets.

As customer expectations continue to evolve, businesses are increasingly relying on AI chatbots to deliver faster, round-the-clock support. But can they truly replace human agents? This article compares AI chatbots and human customer support across speed, cost, accuracy, personalization, and complex problem-solving, helping businesses understand where each performs best and how combining both can create a better customer experience.

Artificial intelligence is changing how lenders assess credit risk by analyzing large volumes of data faster and more accurately than traditional scoring models. But while AI can improve decision-making, it is not without limitations. This article explores how AI credit scoring works, the data it relies on, where it delivers the most value, and the challenges lenders must address to ensure fair, transparent, and reliable lending decisions.