The evolution of crowd funding in the Arab world

Sometimes, a lack of funding forces entrepreneurs to abandon their projects. On other occasions, investors don’t invest in a certain project either because it’s not within their scope or because they don’t want to take risks. Due to these two factors, many resort to crowdfunding to raise money from the community in order to develop their ideas.

How do you launch a crowdfunding campaign?

Launching a campaign on crowdfunding platforms is easy. Users have to submit their ideas with a description and an explanatory video, mentioning the amount of money they need and how are they going to use it. Each campaign usually lasts between one to two months and community members can submit their contributions. In return, they will get a gift, a thank you note, the product itself or any other reward.

The rise of crowdfunding platforms

The concept of crowdfunding may be relatively new in its current form, however the concept is one that has been adopted in many different ways in the past. In the seventies many organizations used to lend money to individuals without the intervention of banks – an example is the Irish Loan Fund led by Jonathon Swift. The fund mainly targeted low-income families living in rural areas. During the eighties, more than 300 microlending programs kicked off.

Original article by Reine Farhat

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The evolution of crowd funding in the Arab world