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High value cropping and integration of the poor in such activities to the market are the typical poverty reduction strategies in traditional agrarian societies. In this background this study intended to explore the avenues how high value cropping in high poverty incidence hilly region in Nepal could be supportive to raise the level of income of the poor conducive to poverty reduction. The study selected potato as the crop in western Nepal hills that has wider scope for further enhancing value chain system. We collect primary data from farmers, traders, and consumers, as well as secondary information from policy makers and concerned provincial ministry. The study concludes that in addition to the extension of the area under potato cultivation, the quality and size of the product need improvement for the use of potato in commercial / manufacturing industries producing potato chips and other products. This paves the way for the substitution of large quantity potato import in Nepal with prospect of employment generation and poverty reduction in Nepal’s western hill region where the incidence of poverty is highest in the country.

Keywords: High Value Crops, Value Chain Analysis, Production function; Poverty Reduction

This study investigated the effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on banking service delivery in Nigeria. The specific objectives were to: investigate the effect of COVID-19 on banks credits and advances operations in Nigeria; find out the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on banks’ electronic services delivery channel in Nigeria; evaluate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on banks deposit base in Nigeria. The ordinary least squares (OLS) technique was employed to estimate the parameters. The findings indicate that: COVID-19 pandemic has significant negative effect on the credit and loan operations of banks in Nigeria; COVID-19 pandemic has significant negative effect on the electronic delivery channels of banks in Nigeria; and the pandemic has negative insignificant effect on the deposit base of banks in Nigeria. Based on the outcome of the various tests carried out and the hypothesis evaluated, the study makes the following recommendations: there is need for banks to deepen electronic service delivery in order to reduce the effect of sudden economic shocks such as those brought by the COVID-19 pandemic; Banks should adopt credit operation mechanism that is not prone to high impact defaults.

Keywords: Pandemic, Financial Market, Cashless Policy, Profitability

This study assesses household energy deprivation in urban and rural areas of Benin using the data of Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) program for Benin in its latest version of 2018. As a methodology, the paper estimates the multidimensional Energy Poverty Index (IPEM) for rural and urban areas based on Alkire & Foster (2011). Findings from the paper reveal that 9.2 percent of households are energy poor while 69.6 percent are multidimensionally energy poor. While the estimated value of the IPEM is 0.064 at the national level, its value revolves around 0.586 and 0.414 at the urban and rural levels respectively. Poor energy access for rural populations can lead in the long term to excessive degradation of forest ecosystems and loss of environmentally friendly habitats, compounding the problem of climate change. The study reveals that consuming households are increasingly becoming energy producers. To mitigate these negative external effects for the environment, there is an urgent need to improve access to modern energy resources in rural areas. It urgent to strength the policy of introducing renewable energies, such as solar, wind and hydraulic energy, as well as promoting energyefficient techniques and energy efficiency solutions adapted to the needs of rural populations.

Keywords: Energy poverty, household, composite index, energy deprivation, principal component analysis.

JEL Classification: C21, I32, Q49, C38

The postcovid economic rebound is not yet sustained economic recovery and will be uneven across economies. Expansive fiscal and monetary policy support in primary advanced economies have prevented further falls in economic activity. Risk to the global economic recovery include limited fiscal capacity to support firms and households, firm closure as debt deferrals and support payments are withdrawn, rising longterm unemployment, increasing inflation and sustained under investment by firms and future productivity implications of measures like extended school closures. Combination of all these factors resulted to uneven economic growth and declining in economic growth in most of the south Asian countries.

The Venture Builder (VB) approach is a growing model to support startups in their earlier efforts. Even though this method appears to be proliferating quickly, little is known regarding its value and the differences between the VB and Venture Capital (VC) Investment Funds. There are also few studies about the importance of the various aspects of the VB methodology to increase new ventures’ success and to reduce investment risks. The objective of this article is to compare the return on investment of VC Investment Funds and a German VB, the Rocket Internet. The methodology used is a multiple case study. From the results it was possible to infer that ceteris paribus the VB has a greater IRR in relation to VC Investment Funds.

Keywords: Innovation, Venture Capital Fund, Venture Builder, Return on Investment

JEL codes: G24 – Investment Banking • Venture Capital • Brokerage • Ratings and Ratings Agencies