Do you believe in your business idea? Does your passion boil so hard that it is contagious? Do you have the needed capital? Never mind! You do not have to give up for lack of funding. Crowdfunding might just be your way out.
Crowdfunding makes available the opportunity to finance your projects through a pool of funds provided by other individuals who believe in your dream as much as they believe in you. It is a modern approach to fundraising. So, let us backtrack a bit.

Every great achievement starts with a dream. Sometimes dreams get too big to the point of fright. But, with right funding, even the frightening dreams come true. The practice in the past was to stage a fundraising campaign and in most cases, professional fundraisers were employed. So, crowdfunding is a long standing method of raising fund for projects, which has now been creatively revamped to suit the 21st century reality of the internet. Epoch events have been staged. Cathedrals have been built. Schools have been renovated. Businesses have become empires; all through fundraising.

The process of crowdfunding now takes place online, usually on specialized platforms such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Crowdfunder, among others. These platforms have their specific terms and conditions under which they operate, but it usually involves you, the project initiator, placing a campaign within a finite fundraising window.

So, for your next business ideas, you could place a fundraising campaign on a crowdfunding platform and watch your campaign generate financial supporters for your business. Your campaign should specify the nature of your project or business, the amount of money to be raised and the deadline. You will also need to mention, in details, the benefits to supporters and other modalities for the donations.
Most of the crowdfunding platforms are devoted to specific cause; some to charitable or educational projects, some, like Kickstater, to creative projects such as film making or book publishing, while others, like Crowdfunder, help raise equity for businesses. You will need to research on which crowdfunding platform meets your need.

Depending on the platform, you might also need to specify if the campaign is All Or None (AON), in which case, if the target fund is not met within the fundraising window, the supporters money is returned and the campaign is closed. The alternative, Keep It All (KIA), bears some flexibility, in that the project initiator could have whatever amount was raised, regardless of whether the target is met or not. However, from statistics, AON campaigns have proven to be more successful than KIA, and have also funded bigger projects more than KIA.

Conclusively, you do not have to give up on your dreams. If you believe in it, if you are passionate about it, get to a crowdfunding platform now and create a campaign. Defying the odd of distance, you can now win supporters, all over the world, for your dream. You will be surprised at the support you will get. Fundraising has never been easier than now. Live your dream!

http://www.excellaid.com.ng/2016/03/financing-your-next-big-idea-through-crowdfunding.html

For naija? This is not Atlanta o.

spafu:
For naija? This is not Atlanta o.

Help me tell am ooo

spafu:
For naija? This is not Atlanta o.

Some Nigerian businesses I know actually get crowdfunded. I know you would want to ask for names, but I can't give the names yet. Maybe I will in the future. Please don't get discouraged before trying new stuff; you never know which would come positive.