Crowdfunding in Emerging Markets : Lessons from East African Startups
The purpose of this paper is to capture lessons learned from East African entrepreneurs who were some of crowdfunding’s first adopters. Their experiences can serve as a practical guide for entrepreneurs looking to more effectively utilize crowdfund...
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2016
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/02/25918946/crowdfunding-emerging-markets-lessons-east-african-startups http://hdl.handle.net/10986/23820 |
| Summary: | The purpose of this paper is to capture
lessons learned from East African entrepreneurs who were
some of crowdfunding’s first adopters. Their experiences can
serve as a practical guide for entrepreneurs looking to more
effectively utilize crowdfunding across all emerging
markets. In order to gather this data, the World Bank
conducted interviews with a number of East African
technology entrepreneurs who ran crowdfunding campaigns,
both successfully and unsuccessfully. The following paper
offers six key lessons for entrepreneurs in Africa and other
emerging markets as they consider when, why and how to
launch a crowdfunding campaign: crowdfunding is much more
difficult than most entrepreneurs anticipate and is not for
everyone. Opportunity costs abound; business needs should
dictate platform choice; payment systems impact platform
choice; quality and quantity of contributor networks are
key; entrepreneurs should tap into complementary resources
and organizations to increase their likelihood of success;
and crowdfunding can have non-monetary benefits. |
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