SME Finance & Payments: Nigeria’s central bank is pushing PAPSS again, aiming to cut the costly, slow cross-border payment steps that keep small traders from expanding across Africa. Digital Banking for MSMEs: South Africa’s Pepkor is buying into fintech via a controlling stake in Shop2Shop, creating FintechCo to serve both formal retail and the informal economy with faster merchant payments. Regional Fintech Recognition: GXS Group won Euromoney’s ASEAN Best Digital Bank for Consumers, highlighting how partnerships (like Grab and Singtel) are turning everyday apps into banking rails for millions of users and MSMEs. SME Support Programs: Victoria (Australia) is expanding free one-on-one Business Skills Mentoring plus new multicultural training and small-business activation grants. Local Business & Community: Ohio’s SBDCs hit a major milestone—60,000 entrepreneurs supported and $1.3B in capital since 2019—showing what sustained advisory networks can do. Policy & Compliance Pressure: A South Africa op-ed argues the real tax on small business is red tape and compliance costs, not just rates. Entrepreneurship Ecosystems: Cebu’s Wais Tindera Caravan brought financial literacy and responsible borrowing training to micro-entrepreneurs, tackling predatory lending risks. Business Growth via Infrastructure: Nepal’s urban future is framed as “safe, smart, resilient settlements” to reduce disaster risk while building productive local economies. SMB Tech & Automation: Russia’s automated simplified taxation system (ASN) is seeing rapid uptake, with hundreds of thousands switching and most staying on standby.