New insights on social finance research in the sustainable development context

Smallholder farmers in developing nations face multifaceted challenges as they strive to secure fair prices for their agricultural products. With a primary focus on bolstering sustainable agricultural value chains (SAVC), this conceptual paper investigates the transformative potential of Financial Technology (FinTech) solutions. The study synthesizes insights from prior research on SAVC, hurdles faced by smallholder farmers, conventional strategies, and the untapped prospects offered by FinTech solutions in the agricultural sector. Utilizing the PRISMA strategy for comprehensive documentation retrieval, the study underscores the significance of creating a robust SAVC to empower smallholder farmers within the broader value chain landscape. It is found that Agri‐FinTech solutions represent a pivotal avenue for advancing living standards and cultivating agricultural sustainability in developing nations. The integration of FinTech solutions for agri‐credit mechanisms and product market facilitation catalyzes enabling pre‐production financing and ensures fair prices for smallholder farmers in the post‐production phase while neutralizing the value chain's exploitation potential. The study advocates for the expeditious adoption of information technology in developing countries, spotlighting the transformative role of Mobile Financial Services (MFS), which fortifies the agriculture sector, ensuring its resilience and responsiveness to the evolving demands of a globalized market. Drawing upon an evaluation of existing literature on FinTech‐enhanced agricultural initiatives in developing nations, the study outlines directions for future research and creates a path for a more nuanced understanding of the strategic enhancements necessary to fortify the SAVC, fostering a sustainable and equitable ecosystem for smallholder farmers.

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confidence: 99%

FinTech solutions for sustainable agricultural value chains: A perspective from smallholder farmers

Rayhan,

Rahman,

Mamun

et al. 2024

“…SMEs can make these achievable if access to finance is readily available for investment to boost employment. In accordance with this, African nations have recently offered entrepreneurial enterprises a great deal of attention on how to improve SMEs' access to finance in order to boost the growth of their economies (Gonzalez-Ruiz et al, 2024;Okine et al, 2018).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring crowdfunding success for small and medium‐sized enterprises sustainable development: Insight from the social networking theory

Okine,

Li,

Djimesah

et al. 2024

With little to no study on the effect of social networking theory on the success of a crowdfunding campaign in Africa, this study investigated some of the factors that influence the success of a crowdfunding campaign using Ghana as a case for a broader justification and generalization of findings that has been obtained in previous studies. This study identified four factors through an extensive literature review of the social networking theory. These are the number of social network handless of an entrepreneur, activeness of an entrepreneur on a social network, number of social network friends of an entrepreneur and the availability of project videos on an entrepreneur's social network. Data were then collected empirically from 462 respondents using a questionnaire. The data obtained were analyzed using the partial least square structural equation modeling. The results revealed that all the identified factors positively influence the success of a crowdfunding campaign. The study further proposes that fund seekers on the crowdfunding platform post their project information on weekends and evenings on weekdays since people pay special attention to information posted at these times. Also, the outcome of the importance performance map analysis disclosed that the number of social network handles of an entrepreneur is the most essential in terms of importance when seeking funds on the crowdfunding platform. This study provides valuable insight into how small and medium‐sized enterprises in Ghana and other stakeholders of crowdfunding platforms can use the concept of social networking theory to achieve funding success on crowdfunding platforms.

Visualizing the landscape of blue finance for sustainable development: A bibliometric analysis and future directions

Wang,

Zhang,

Chen

2024

Blue finance research has recently made significant progress, but comprehensive research is still in its infancy. This paper established a consolidated database of 223 articles on blue finance and used CiteSpace for visualization analysis. Firstly, blue finance develops in embryonic, fluctuating, and stable growth phases. The main research countries are the US, Australia, England, and Canada. The University of California and the University of Queensland are the main research institutions. Marine Policy and Science are highly cited journals. A few core authors shape blue finance research with limited collaboration. Secondly, three themes were established by categorizing ten keyword clusters: financial instruments and mechanisms for marine conservation and sustainability, policy frameworks for adaptation and climate resilience, and policy frameworks for adaptation and climate resilience. Thirdly, contingent valuation, marine protected areas, and the blue economy are the main research hotspots. The results' theoretical contribution is identifying the progress of blue finance and its potential directions. Researchers, managers, and policymakers can use it to promote economic growth and ocean sustainability.