Microsmart and Begini partner to boost microfinance access for Greek MSMEs
LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Microsmart SA, Greece's first decentralized microfinance institution, has partnered with alternative data fintech Begini to unlock fast, fair, and accessible financing for micro and small businesses across the country. With MSMEs making up 99% of all Greek businesses, this partnership marks a significant step forward in closing the credit gap for underserved entrepreneurs.
'Microcredit is a modern development tool. Our work with Begini helps remove long-standing barriers to finance by combining speed with fair risk assessment,' said Neoklis Stamkos, CEO of Microsmart SA.
Share
Backed by national regulators, Microsmart sought innovative tools to extend credit responsibly to Greece's smallest businesses, often excluded by traditional banks due to a lack of formal credit history.
To meet this challenge, Microsmart integrated Begini's psychometric credit assessment into its digital lending flow. The solution, which generates predictive first-party credit data without requiring financial or personal records, was deployed in just two working days.
In the six months following implementation, Microsmart reported a 90% increase in monthly lending volumes and a <95% completion rate for applicants—a strong signal of both appetite and accessibility.
'Microcredit is a modern development tool. Our work with Begini helps remove long-standing barriers to finance by combining speed with fair risk assessment,' said Neoklis Stamkos, CEO of Microsmart SA. 'We are proud to help entrepreneurs across Greece turn their ambitions into action, without the friction of traditional banking.'
'Microsmart's leadership in microfinance made them the ideal partner for our alternative credit technology,' said James Hume, CEO of Begini. 'Together, we're proving that simple, behavioural insights can drive financial inclusion at scale, safely, affordably, and in days, not months.'
As Greece continues to rebuild and grow its small business sector, Microsmart and Begini are demonstrating that digital-first, human-centred credit solutions can have a meaningful impact on real-world outcomes for underserved communities.
About Begini
Begini provides scientifically-validated, privacy-consented behavioural analytics to help financial institutions assess credit risk, detect fraud, and segment customers.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
The Dreadful Policies Halting Archeological Discoveries
Thanks to the creative application of new technologies, the 2020s are quietly shaping up to be a golden age of archaeology. In 2023, then-21-year-old Luke Farritor (now with the Department of Government Efficiency) combined machine‑learning pattern recognition with high‑resolution CT scans to decipher the first word from the Herculaneum scrolls—a Roman library charred by Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. Fully decrypting the library could ultimately double the surviving corpus of Ancient Greek and Roman literature—an unprecedented bonanza for classical scholarship. Analysis of ancient DNA has resolved long-debated questions about human migrations. After sequencing hundreds of Bronze Age human genomes, David Reich's research team at Harvard positively identified southwest Russia as the geographical origin of the Indo-European languages, while other genomic work has dated Homo sapiens-Neanderthal interbreeding to 47,000 years ago, several millennia prior to earlier best guesses. Fossilized human footprints in White Sands, New Mexico, have been conclusively dated to about 23,000 years ago—proof that people were in North America during the last Ice Age and forcing scholars to rethink when and how humans first crossed into the New World. Lidar has recently revealed massive ancient cities under jungle canopies, from the Mayan platform of Aguada Fénix in Mexico—larger than the Great Pyramid of Giza—to mysterious urban centers in the ancient Amazon. These developments—whether driven by artificial intelligence, the decryption of ancient genomics, or airborne lasers—promise to momentously expand society's understanding of humanity's past. Notably absent from this bounty, however, are the fruits of traditional, physical, Indiana Jones-style archaeology. The world of bits, as has often been the case these days, is leaving the world of atoms in the dust. While the storied bits over atoms problem is a complicated one, legal mechanisms are straightforwardly to blame for throttling archeological discovery. The case of Italian antiquities policy is paradigmatic. Since the 1930s, Italy—along with Greece, Turkey, and Egypt—has vested ownership of all antiquities in the state. Commerce in freshly unearthed artifacts is outlawed, and unauthorized excavation is punishable by hefty fines and sometimes prison time. Even using a metal detector requires a permit. Edward Luttwak, a historian and author of The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire, explains that in Italy, "if you find something, you report it to the authorities. The authorities take it, goodbye. Most often, what they take from you, they put in a depot, a basement, a warehouse, and it never even gets shown." This is the unfortunate lot of the fortunate discoverer of an Italian artifact. Report a Roman coin? It'll be confiscated. Find an Etruscan urn while planting olives? Your land will be turned into an archaeological site the government may never have time to excavate. It's unsurprising, then, that Italians frequently don't report their findings to the government. Many artifacts end up on the black market (in 2023, Italy's Carabinieri Art Squad seized nearly 70,000 illegally excavated artifacts), or are even simply destroyed or hidden away. Private hoarding is an especially pernicious problem: When "illegally excavated" (read: most) Italian artifacts are privately held in people's houses, they are lost both to scholarship and public view. "You could fill twice the museums that exist in Italy from what people have hidden in their houses," says Luttwak, "which they wouldn't hide if you could report [them] to the authorities like they do in England." The British model provides a striking contrast. Since the 1996 Treasure Act, British law has required that significant archaeological finds be reported. Instead of simply seizing them, if the state wishes to retain an item, it must compensate the finder and landowner at its full market value. To capture the far larger universe of objects that fall outside the law's narrow legal definition of "treasure," the state-sponsored Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) established a voluntary nationwide program through which average Britons can log any find, whether or not the state intends to acquire it, into an open scientific database. As of 2020, over 1 million objects have been logged in PAS. According to Michael Lewis, head of Portable Antiquities and Treasure at the British Museum, over 90 percent of PAS-recorded items are found by metal detectorists on cultivated land, indicating how the scheme has turned what was once seen as a threat into a fountainhead of archaeological data. Thanks to these policies, Britain has been increasingly outpacing Italy in Roman archaeology despite its relatively modest classical history, as seen in this viral map of the provenance of hoards of Roman coins. Notice the sheer quantity of Roman coin discoveries reported in the U.K., far surpassing those in Italy. This disparity isn't explained by Roman Britain being richer than Roman Italy (quite the opposite), but by modern Britain recognizing and leveraging incentives to bring history out of occultation. The Great Stagnation of physical archaeology is a choice. The failure of policymakers to get the basics right—to make physical archaeology worth anyone's time—renders the richest landscapes fallow. Luttwak's attention is on one such landscape: the confluence of the Busento and Crati rivers on the edge of Cosenza, Calabria. Contemporary accounts record that in 410 A.D. the Visigoth chieftain Alaric—fresh from sacking Rome—was buried beneath the temporarily diverted river along with the treasures of the Eternal City. "Alaric's treasure is located in the southern part of the city of Cosenza," says Luttwak. "It was documented by an eyewitness." Alaric took "gold and silver objects…statues, and all kinds of things—possibly even the Temple menorah….When Alaric died in Cosenza, he got as the king one third of the treasure [to be] buried with him." "It could be found," explains Luttwak, "with hovering metal detectors, because he was buried with his weapons, too." Alaric's hoard—and maybe Judaism's most iconic physical symbol—should be discoverable today with an aerial anomaly survey and some clever hydraulics. The technology is ready; the incentives are not. Change the rules, and the payoff could be extraordinary. The post The Dreadful Policies Halting Archeological Discoveries appeared first on
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Popular New Jersey Greek Restaurant Closing Down After 9 Years
One of the most popular Greek restaurants in a major New Jersey city is set to close after serving customers for nearly a decade. GreekTown in Hoboken, New Jersey announced that it would be closing on Wednesday. "Thank you Hoboken for the last nine years!!!! It's a good bye for now, keep an eye out for another opening in the future," the restaurant said in a social media post. "All good things must come to an end and the ends is now for Greektown." Visitors flocked to the Garden Street location for a variety of dishes like hummus, tzatziki dip, and Greek soup. Spanakopita was a fan favorite, with visitors enjoying the flaky crust and cream filling of the spinach pie. "Got a Greek salad here almost every day…going to miss this place," one fan said on Reddit. "I ate here about once a week. Really sad to see them go," another fan said, offering the suggestion of a brunch menu when the space eventually reopens elsewhere in the city. Some fans cited another Greek restaurant - Tros Greek Street Food - located close by that seemed to have better options. Tros currently has a 4.5-star rating from customers on Yelp and is located just three minutes away from GreekTown. Rising costs and other factors have hit the restaurant industry hard over the last few months, as establishments have closed all over the country. Large cities, college towns and even small towns have been affected as the hospitality and food industries recover from pandemic-related losses. Many restaurants were able to pivot to services like DoorDash and Uber Eats in 2020, but some owners have argued that the cut the apps take from each delivery isn't enough to justify working with them. Ingredients also cost more than they did several years ago, putting restaurants that were able to break even or turn a small profit into a deficit. Owning a small business in any industry can be difficult, and the variables introduced into an industry like the restaurant business can be catastrophic. We'll see if GreekTown can re-evaluate its business strategy and determine a new path forward ahead of reopening in the future. Popular New Jersey Greek Restaurant Closing Down After 9 Years first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 5, 2025
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Arsenal in talks for teenage talent with Fabregas comparisons
Arsenal Pursue Karetsas Deal as Focus Turns to Future-proofing Midfield Genk starlet emerges as major summer target In a move that blends audacity with foresight, Arsenal are reportedly in advanced talks to sign 17-year-old Konstantinos Karetsas from Genk, in a deal that could be worth up to €45 million. The Athenian-Macedonian news agency reports that the Gunners aim to finalise a deal this summer but allow the Greek teenager to stay on loan at Genk for the 2025/26 season. Photo IMAGO It is a strategy that speaks to Arsenal's wider recalibration: youth, sustainability, and calculated aggression in the market. A generation ago, this might have looked like a gamble. Now, it is Arsenal's default setting. Karetsas drawing continental attention The midfielder's stock has surged rapidly, driven by composed displays in the Jupiler Pro League and a standout performance in Greece's 3-0 win over Scotland earlier this year. Comparisons to a young Cesc Fabregas are not handed out lightly, but they reflect Karetsas' control, vision and game intelligence. Photo IMAGO Gunners sporting director Andrea Berta is central to the negotiations, with his relationship with Karetsas' agent, who also facilitated Albert Sambi Lokonga's transfer, smoothing the process. Historic price tag expected Should the reported deal be completed, Karetsas would become the most expensive Greek player in history, eclipsing the €36 million Napoli paid for Kostas Manolas in 2019. Arsenal are keen to seal the transfer early to ward off interest from Chelsea, Bayern Munich and PSG, all of whom are monitoring the player. Photo IMAGO The plan is not to fast-track Karetsas to the Emirates but to let him mature in Belgium. First-team football, week in and week out, is deemed crucial before unleashing his potential in North London by 2026. Long-term vision meets short-term needs While the pursuit of Karetsas represents Arsenal's eye for tomorrow, they are also navigating the present. Talks are ongoing with RB Leipzig over striker Benjamin Sesko, who netted 21 goals last season. Sporting director Berta is also in dialogue with Thomas Partey about a potential one-year contract extension, though Barcelona and Saudi clubs remain interested. Advertisement In this moment, Arsenal are plotting parallel paths: building a title-contending squad for now, and constructing the foundation for the future. Our View – EPL Index Analysis Konstantinos Karetsas may not be a household name yet, but neither was Fabregas at 17, and the comparison isn't just flattery. His calmness in midfield, ability to read the game and dictate tempo already sets him apart from many seasoned pros. What's even more encouraging for the supporters is that the club are not rushing this. Letting him develop at Genk shows trust in the process and a clear long-term vision. Arsenal are no longer scrambling for short-term fixes. They're identifying elite potential early, something the best-run clubs have done for years. Advertisement And it's not happening in isolation. With Sesko negotiations ongoing and Partey's situation being managed with care, there's a sense of joined-up thinking behind the scenes. Berta's influence is already being felt — smart, strategic, and forward-thinking. If Karetsas does arrive, he won't just be the most expensive Greek footballer ever. He could very well be a cornerstone of Arsenal's next great side. The future looks not just bright — it looks planned.
