Getting funds for a project or business in Nigeria is no easy feat especially when you are just getting started, but you can dwell in the fact that some great Crowdfunding sites could help you achieve your desired goals easily.
Crowdfunding has been on for years but not many people are familiar with the term. If you are an enthusiastic user of social media platforms like Twitter, you must have seen individuals or organizations campaign on their walls in a bid to raise money for a particular project, business, or person. Such campaigns for funds could be described as crowdfunding.
Usually, a crowdfunding website link is dropped where anyone could use to contribute their own quota. There is no compulsion, just people who share the same belief about the idea and work towards it.
Whether for a particular project or business idea, there are other options that you can always consider. Meanwhile, Crowdfunding is the best if you need a quick way to get funds without going through stress. Besides, most funds from Crowdfunding sites could come in form of grants which is better than taking a loan from the bank.
In this post, you will find the Top Rated Crowdfunding websites To Fund Your Ideas In Nigeria, be it a project or business needs. Meanwhile, understand that crowdfunding is all about getting help from some set of people.
HOW CROWDFUNDING WORKS
Although we have already subtly explained what crowdfunding means, we will still try to push further in a bid to give you a perfect description.
Adebayo, the best graduating student of Obafemi Awolowo University could not get a decent job because of the situation in the country. He ended up with a low paid job which is not even enough to see him through the month.
Years later, a friend who is now one of the popular influencers on the microblogging site, Twitter offered to help him out. He believed he deserved to be helped. He made a viral post containing a payment link, asking people to help out with whatever they can afford.
The crowdfunding campaign was a success, and he was able to help his friend raise money that he could use to start a good business.
What about Adamu who had one of his legs cut off after an accident on the highway? He needs a Prosthetic leg to be able to walk better. He could get one through crowdfunding.
One of the most surprising things about getting funds through crowdfunding is that one can get more than what he’s expected.
If you have an idea but finding it difficult to raise money, this could be your best chance. Crowdfunding had helped many to get started, it is a platform where anyone could use to present his ideas to waiting investors or backers.
There are three major types of Crowdfunding, they are Rewards-based crowdfunding, Donation-based crowdfunding, and Equity-based crowdfunding.
Rewards-based crowdfunding: Rewards-based crowdfunding is a type of crowdfunding where individuals invest small funds to a project and in return, they get some rewards. The rewards will depend on the amount contributed and it could be a thank you card or a gift. Indiegogo and Kickstarter are examples of Rewards-based crowdfunding websites.
Donation-based crowdfunding: this is one of the most popular types of crowdfunding. People help a cause by making their donations without expecting anything back. It could be to help accident victims, sick patients, businesses, or other causes that could be of immense benefits. Talking about Donation-based crowdfunding websites, GoFundMe is a perfect example.
Equity-based crowdfunding: Another way you could fund that great business idea is to partner with people. This normally entails a situation whereby the fundraisers receive funds from people who are looking to make money as a sleeping partner. This will make them own a certain percentage of equity in the business.
For their troubles, crowdfunding websites charge a percentage of the total funds which is usually not more than 5%.
BEST CROWDFUNDING SITES TO FUND YOUR BUSINESS IDEAS
Below are the best crowdfunding websites to get funding for your project ideas and business in Nigeria:
1. GoFundMe
GoFundMe is a Donation-based crowdfunding site and one of the popular ones In Nigeria or any part of the world. The company has its roots in America and helped individuals, groups, and organizations amassed over $9 billion since it started.
The GoFundMe platform is very easy for anyone. You can easily create your account and watch as the little drops grow into something big.
GoFundMe charges 5% of the total donation and the payment processing platform takes 2.9%. However, if you are from the US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, and Ireland, the online fundraising platform will make it available for free provided it is a personal campaign.
GoFundMe can be trusted to keep your funds safe as they are backed by GoFundMe Guarantee. The team always try to ensure everything goes as it should. Therefore, the GoFundMe Guarantee is a safety measure for social fundraising. In the event of any abnormality, GoFundMe Guarantee will ensure that donors and donations are protected.
2. Kickstarter
Kickstarter is one of the most popular crowdfunding sites in the USA and was established in the year 2009, it was recently that it is becoming a bit popular in Nigeria and other parts of Africa.
Like most crowdfunding websites, it has its head office in Brooklyn, New York, USA, and service spread all over the world – their service revolves around art and creativity. With Kickstarter, any creative individual or organization could easily get funding.
Your creative idea could be any of these wonderful idea which include film making, music, art, programming, innovative projects, etc. If your idea attaches to a creative category but you need some funding to make it happen, now you know where to get them. People will always support great idea if they feel it has a chance.
On Kickstarter, there are project creators and backers. The project creators present their ideas using the Kickstarter platform and if the backers feel that the creativity is top-notch, they could back them with some funds. The project creators will be able to unveil the project details and prototypes using images, videos, and texts.
He can also set up his funding goals, deadline, and rewards for each level depending on the amount the backers pledge. The moment the project reaches its funding goals, all backers will be charged. Therefore, the project creator can now go along with its projects.
This could take some time depending on how enormous the project is. Once accomplished, the backers will see the final production. However, if a project creator is unable to meet his or her funding goal, no backer will be charged. Kickstarter will charge 5% of the total funds provided the project is successfully funded.
If you are a project creator, you will be the sole owner of your work, no backers would be able to make claims on it. They are only supporting an idea which they believe is a good one, and not financially profitable for them.
3. Crowdcube
Crowdcube is an Equity-based crowdfunding website created to give people the means to bring in partners who will invest money into a business.
If anyone contributes his or her money to a business on Crowdcube, they will become shareholders. The number of shares you bought or the shares issued to you will determine how much of a stake you hold in the company. After processing your application, your share certificate will be sent to you.
Most of the investments on Crowdcube are shares held by Crowdcube Nominees. The angel investors also have pre-emption and voting rights provided they have become shareholders.
Crowdcube has helped many businesses survived and over £367,286,175 had been invested in businesses through their website. There is no charge for listing your businesses on Crowdcube, but you will be charged a 7% fee on any amount raised through the crowdfunding website.
Crowcube is a UK based business, founded by Luke Lang and Darren Westlake in 2011. It has now grown to become one of the Best Crowdfunding Sites To Fund Your Ideas In Nigeria.
4. Patreon
Patreon is an American crowdfunding website that gives Creators the platform where they can raise money for content. The funds mostly come from their fans or patrons, which could come monthly or per the project created.
The company was founded by Jack Conte and Sam Yam in 2013 and has its office based in San Francisco but enjoys a global presence.
Bloggers, video bloggers, podcasters, etc often use the platform to make extra money for content on public display, which normally is free. Patrons support their favourite creators in exchange for exclusive membership benefits. Through their support, they will get closer to their favourite content creators.
Since the crowdfunding website was established, over 2 billion dollars has been received and with at least 6 million patrons still showing their support.
Patreon receives 5 to 12% of the monthly income received by creators, plus payment process fees. Payment processing fees is £/€/$3 or less: 5% + 10 cents.
5. Indiegogo
Indiegogo is a crowdfunding website established in 2008 by Slava Rubin, Eric Schell, and Danae Ringelmann with its headquarters in San Francisco, California, USA.
Indiegogo works almost like Kickstarter except with some little differences. The notable difference is that Kickstarter only releases funds if the goals are met while Indiegogo will give you an option to receive funds as backers contribute or wait if the required goals can be met.
In other words, there are two options to choose from, they are fixed and flexible funding, this option is not available on Kickstarter. For the fixed funding, you must attain the funding goal before you can receive funds if not all the funds are returned to your backers. Flexible funding does not work that way, you will get your funding irrespective of the outcome.
On Indiegogo, you will be able to campaign for creative works, innovations, or projects that would benefit a community. Indiegogo will obtain 5% of the total funds raised on their platform and processing fee depending on your country and currency.
6. Crowdfunder
If you are looking for crowdfunding for personal causes or charities, this is not the place to be. Crowdfunder was designed for innovators and entrepreneurs with a high possibility of making money from their ventures.
Crowdfunder is another equity crowdfunding website that is used to get funds for businesses. The company kicked off in 2012, thereby offering itself as a solution to low capital. This company could help individuals who are looking to scale as quickly as possible, thanks to its large number of angel investors.
When the investors put money into your company, they become a shareholder. No fee will be charged for raising funds on Crowdfunder, but you will pay $299/month for the Starter account and $499/month for premium. Purchase premium plus cost $999
7. Fundly
Fundly is a donation-based crowdfunding website for online fundraising.
Charities, churches, individuals, churches, mosques, teams, politicians, mosques, etc can make use of the platform to raise money from friends, donors, colleagues, backers, or anyone via social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
On Fundly, you will be given the platform to tell your stories using videos, texts, or photos. You can even add content from a third-party source like Youtube, Facebook, Vimeo, or via your computer to create a slide that could easily help your crowdfunding campaign. Social media platforms are always the cheapest means of promotion, you could leverage that to your meet your funding goal.
Fundly platform fee is 4.9% while Stripe takes the credit card processing fee which costs 2.9% + $.30/transaction.
8. CircleUp
Another way entrepreneurs could get the required amount to kickstart or continue a business is through CircleUp. The equity-based crowdfunding platform, CircleUp has been around since 2012 and can be said to be one of the reasons why startups are getting big, thanks to the capital provided through credit and capital financing.
If you are trying to create a product that you will rather want to be a talk of the town, then the online platform could help you get started. Before any investor will want to invest, they will want to be assured that it is worth a try, therefore you need to create a campaign that would entice almost anyone.
On the American crowdfunding website, you are going to find investors with sizeable annual income which means it could be one of the best places to get large funds. CircleUp will charge 5% of the total amount raised on the platform.
9. NaijaFund
NaijaFund is one of the top crowdfunding websites in Nigeria to get funds for almost anything. It could be for business start-ups, new phones, gadgets, medical fees, house rent, and so on.
After you have created your campaign on NaijaFund, you can easily share your crowdfunding campaign with friends, families, or anyone using social media platforms. If you are good with email marketing, you can even send it to a large number of people provided you have an email address list.
On Naijafund, you will be able to run up to 5 campaigns at a time. Do note that Naijafund charges a 10% fee on all donations made to you and the processing fee of 2% will also be charged as transaction fees for a third-party payment processor.
10. Fundanenterprise
Meet Fundanenterprise.org, the equity-based crowdfunding website for Startups and the first of its kind in Nigeria, which was designed to enable entrepreneurs and business owners to access funds.
Owners of startups, micro, small, medium-sized businesses will now be able to receive funds through this Nigerian crowdfunding site.
The website is managed by the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Crowd Funding Foundation, a new not-for-profit organisation in Nigeria. The foundation was registered in July 2018 with the main objective of giving old and new businesses donations, grants, and support to weather any storm they might face.
In Nigeria or outside the country, there are lots of people who will love to help vibrant business owners which is now made possible through this made in Nigeria crowdfunding website.
Fundanenterprise charges 10% or 20% of the total funding raised from the campaign on their website.
