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The health crisis linked to COVID-19 has made digitization a significant issue for companies regardless of their form or geographical location. Our research focuses on the financial technology (Fintech) revolution in the context of international development. Its theoretical framework lies in both the fields of Fintech and factoring. As innovative start-ups that combine finance with new technologies, Fintechs have been able to disrupt the banking world in a few years by challenging its traditional practices. We use the case method to analyze two Fintech in-depth, and our results highlight the upheaval of Fintechs in the factoring sector. The supply of the analyzed Fintech is a limited working capital requirement. Furthermore, Fintechs may threaten classical banks due to the innovation of their offers and business models. However, the Fintech revolution focused on corporate finance is still in its infancy.

Traditional savings and credit associations, also known as ‘Osusu’ in Sierra Leone, are unions of individuals with common economic goals aimed at reducing poverty and economic vulnerability. The chapter examined the ecosystem of traditional indigenous savings and credit associations, their role as an emerging financial inclusion strategy, and contributions to the socio-economic transformation of business processes in the ecosystem of business operations in Sierra Leone. The chapter adopted the case study method to discuss the Tawoponneh model of ROSCAs in Sierra Leone. The institutional theory provided insight into why individuals join ROSCAs, as well as the resulting outcomes and benefits. Additionally, this chapter discusses the challenges associated with indigenous financial sustainability practices and provides actionable recommendations for joint private and government policy collaboration in supporting traditional entrepreneurial businesses.

The monetary policy implementation and corporate investment are closely intertwined. The aim of modern monetary policy is to mitigate economic fluctuations and stabilise economic growth. One of the ways of influencing the real economy is influencing the level of investment by enterprises.

This chapter provides evidence on how monetary policy affected corporate investment in Poland between 1Q 2000 and 3Q 2022. We investigate the impact of Polish monetary policy on investment outlays in contexts of high uncertainty.

Using the correlation analysis and the regression model, we show the relation between the monetary policy and the investment outlays of Polish enterprises. We used the least squares method as the most popular in linear model estimation. The evaluation includes model fit, independent variable significance and random component, i.e. constancy of variance, autocorrelation, alignment with normal distribution, along with Fisher–Snedecor test and Breusch–Pagan test.

We find that Polish enterprises are responsive to changes in monetary policy. Hence, the corporate investment level is correlated with the effects of monetary policy (especially with the decision on the central bank's basic interest rate changes). We found evidence that QE policy has a positive impact on Polish investment outlays. The corporate investment in Poland is positively affected by respective monetary policies through Narodowy Bank Polski (NBP) reference rate, inflation, corporate loans, weighted average interest rate on corporate loans.

The Government of Eswatini (GoE) civil service wage bill has continued to rise in recent years. The personnel budget is still the largest single recurrent expenditure item in the budget in Eswatini. To control the civil service wage bill, the GoE introduced Lean Service Principle through Management Services Division (MSD). The civil service wage bill continues to rise despite the implementation of the Lean Service Principle. So far, there are no tangible outcomes that indicate that the principles applied have been effective in the reduction of the wage bill. Thus, this research aims to examine the question of why the Lean Service Principle failed to effectively slow the rampant growth of the civil service wage bill in the Kingdom of Eswatini. This study used the quantitative research approach to collect data on amounts spent on wages, the percentage increase of the wage bill for the period 2010–2017, and the percentage increase in the number of civil servants as per the Establishment Registers, 2010–2017. The study investigated the wage bill push factors, the shortcomings of the Lean Service Principle, and the Just-In-Time (JIT) Technique in the management and reduction of the GoE civil service wage bill. The study found the MSD has been applying the wrong methodologies in wage bill control, which has been evident in the continued yearly increase of the wage bill. The study recommends that the MSD should consider the utilisation of Human Resources Forecasting and Planning Techniques instead of using the Lean Service Principle and the JIT technique. This study will enable the Cabinet to make an appropriate decision on the mandate and future of the MSD, as there have been growing calls to disband the division due to the failure to reduce and/or control the wage bills as that is the core mandate of the division.

Purpose: Cryptocurrency technology has improved fast in the social economy and growth. Because cryptocurrency has many good qualities, it is initially employed for Bitcoin transactions.

Methodology: With the advent of Bitcoin, the link between distributed ledger technology (DLT) and the banking market has become stronger and more integrated. As more banking institutions understood the relevance of DLT, they began experimenting with using it in financial activities, such as R3CEV, Hyperledger, and Qiwi.

Findings: Many commercial organisations are beginning to experiment with DLT to reduce transactional costs and boost operational effectiveness, particularly in financial notes, cross-border payments, and asset-backed financing.

Practical Implications: DLT has many potential applications in banking domains in the upcoming years.