Many young African entrepreneurs fall
victim to giving up on their businesses or ideas which could potentially see
the continent economically transform due to a lack of capital or acquiring
investment. A perfect example is a friend of mine who grow tired of being an
informal trader, selling counterfeit DVD’s on the ever busy streets of
Johannesburg.
What my friend Thabo Nonyane ever wanted was
to become an entrepreneur and not being educated and without business knowledge
to turn idea into a success, he gave up on what he once believed in.
The great creation of the internet has over
the past decade given birth to too many global trends and has made
communication relatively easy. The story of my friend who gave up on his formal
business idea led me to research on a great way of acquiring funding using the
internet through crowd-funding.
Crowd-funding is a collective effort of
individuals who network and put their money using the internet to give support
to business start-ups, non-profit organisations or funding a cause.Instead of
rushing off to a financial institution for back up, many young driven entrepreneurs
and inventors across the globe with a multi-billion idea have resorted to
Crowd-funding. Two South African entrepreneurs Jaco Kruger and Jean Van Der Merwe,
co-founders of Chrome Cherry Design Studios in Cape Town used Crowd-funding to
acquire investment for their business which invented a trike that teaches kids
to ride a bike and also assist with developing gross motor skills.
the co-founders of Chrome Cherry Design Studios, Jean Van Der Merwe and Jaco Kruger
Computer publication PC World reported on
its online publication that Mark Shuttleworth’s company Canonical aim to merge
the desktop computer and mobile device into a smartphone device which is to
join the dodge smartphone market in May of 2014. The company will use crowd-funding
to get the device off the ground with the aim to get a funding of $32 million
(R320 million), talk of AMBITION.
Like many other entrepreneurs with
innovative ideas, Mark Shuttleworth is using the trend to land up capital to
fund an idea, a route my friend could have utilized to further his business had
he didn’t give up.
Non-banks are gaining momentum globally as
banks have increased interest rates or pull back from lending to small
businesses. Off course like any other banking or business funding system crowd-funding
has its own Pros and Cons, but no matter the reason funding shouldn’t be the main
reason why future Mark Shuttleworthsdo not emerge for any corner of the globe.
Ashley
Mokwena
@ashfonik
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