Stephen GbolagadeIf you’ve been trying to raise a fund or capital for your business idea or any other thing, but don’t know where to go, worry not as I will show you the top 10 crowdfunding sites in Nigeria and the basic stuffs you need to do before and while getting started.
And I will also tell you how you can promote your crowdfunding campaign to attracts more “donors” and gather lots of funds.
But before then, you may be asking….
How Does Crowdfunding Sites in Nigeria Work?
Crowdfunding site is a platform where donations are raised for a particular reason. Either to take care of medical bills, pay school fees, fund your idea or start a business.
Seeking donation from these crowdfunding sites is very and far different from acquiring loan from bank or using loan apps. Because the aim of these crowdfunding sites is to “help” people.
In my own simplest definition, I define these crowdfunding sites in Nigeria as;
A platform where people raise some amount of money digitally or on the internet from a large number of people who are also known as “Donors”.
Why Crowdfunding is the Best Free Way to Raise Funds in Nigeria
According to Wikipedia, over $34 billion was raised in 2015 from crowdfunding to finance one or two things as earlier explained. That’s about 12,308,000,000,000 Naira (12.3 Trillion Naira)!
And the amount would have increased annually since then.
Apart from the Wikipedia figure, a renowned activist and politician in Nigeria, I mean the founder of SaharaReporters raised some millions of Naira for his presidential campaign using one of these crowdfunding sites in Nigeria.
And also, it’s legal as long as you crowdsource for fund without any false pretense.
You may be thinking that you don’t need to use Crowdfunding sites before you can raise funds in Nigeria but here’s a fact;
Once in a person’s life, the need to finance certain projects may arise, this may lead to leading to outsourcing funds from various sources which may include crowdfunding sites.
These platforms help people finance several important projects when they fall short or have insufficient funds. They’re several crowdfunding platforms available and I’ll be revealing the top 10 best crowdfunding sites in Nigeria, sit tight and lets ride!
Top 10 Crowdfunding Sites in Nigeria
1. KickStarter @ kickstarter.com
KickStarter is a world-famous crowd funding platform that has helped many is financing many innovative ideas. The site is updated daily with mind-blowing innovations from the world of arts, comics and illustration, and also design and technology visitor of the site will have the chance to view your product, idea or innovation if they find it interesting, you’re in luck as they are able to make payments to support you or your firm.
Once you sign up, you’d be required to provide detailed information on how funds gather will be put to use, this assures the visitors because they’ve got knowledge in what there are putting their money on.
2. Indiegogo @ indiegogo.com
Indiegogo is another giant among the list of best online crowdfunding sites in Nigeria for the innovative minds – both content creators and innovation seekers, you get to find the best of them all at Indiegogo. Creators from the field of homes and décor, phones and accessories, travel and outdoors, health and fitness, audio, and film are all invited to use this platform in funding their ideas.
Since its launch, the company has helped millions of entrepreneurs worldwide in fulfilling their financial dreams. This has been made possible by it large fanbase of sponsor in about 200 countries of the world.
3. CrowdFunder @ crowdfunder.com
Another top crowdfunding platform in Nigeria with worldwide reputation is CrowdFunder. Crowdfunder has helped many start-ups in getting their businesses up and running, many start-ups all over the world have Crowd Funder to thank for the so the growth so far of their business.
Asides start-ups, individual with certain projects have the opportunity to post their ideas and innovations, but you have to note that most visitors will tend to favor start-ups more often, so unless you’ve got something highly innovative and important, don’t post as your ideas may not appear on Crowd Funder’s timeline.
4. Patreon @ patreon.com
Patreon is another CrowdFunding site in Nigeria meant for content creators to help then in funding wonderful projects.
Patreon is more like Facebook in the Crowd funding world, you post your ideas, invite your fans and get them to fund your ideas. Creators which ranges from Video creators, Podcasters, or you’re trying to make money as music artists and many categories of people, use this platform to fund their ideas, and if you fall into any of these categories you should be using Patreon.
It’s quite easy to use, sign up and spread the news to your fans, take out time to customize your profile. With Patreon you could fund any project with few clicks.
5. GoFundMe @ gofundme.com
This platform helps persons in various disciplines in their fundraising endeavors. The platform utilizes many top payment systems and NGOs in funding the payments of several innovative ideas of its users.
This platform is free and easy to use, they’re no extra charges except those which may be incurred by your credit card company. You could use to platform for funding for a friend, yourself and for charity.
Other categories which the over ten thousand users using this site include; medical, memorial, emergency, nonprofit, education and also pets/animals. You could see a list success stories and testimonial on the site.
6. CrowdCube @ crowdcube.com
CrowdCube is one of the best crowdfunding sites in Nigeria that seeks to empower entrepreneur and start-ups in and around the world. The founders of this platform saw the difficulties faced by start-ups in getting their businesses off the ground and took out the time in starting up this platform. The platform is funded by its over six thousand partners worldwide.
CrowdCube also has an online app for both apple and android users which helps make it easier for its users to use the platform. If you’ve got a wonderful idea to fund, don’t hesitate to use this platform.
7. NaijaFund @ naijafund.com
Naijafund is one of the best crowdfunding sites in Nigeria, it seeks to help entrepreneur and start-ups get their businesses up and running. Aside the funding of businesses, other innovative ideas by several individuals can also be funded using NaijaFund.
It’s one of the best home brands, aside the foreign owned crowdfunding platforms that’s offers some of the best service in that category.
Using the site is quite easy and straightforward as users who seek funding could easily connect the service to their various social media platforms, making the reach of customers quite easy.
8. Circle Up @ circleup.com
Another top brand in this category is Circle Up which focuses on helping entrepreneurs with consumer-based products in focus. Although owned by foreign parties, its reach covers all the world with Nigerians also beneficiaries to this wonderful service.
For entrepreneurs and start-ups new to the labour market, Circle Up will come in handy when looking to fund a product, service and even to get ideas off the ground, from tech, to arts and craft, sports and entertainment and even freelancers could utilize this wonderful service in the funding of whatever package they want.
9. MicroVenture @ app.microventure.com/crowdfunding
MicroVentures is another brand with over a hundred thousand persons including top firms like Uber, Spotify, Lyft, Anaplan and many others investing in various innovative products. Lots of entrepreneurs around the world especially start-ups use the platform in the getting funds for their products or services.
With MicroVentures, you’re either a creator or investor – as an investor, you free to actively donate to any of the projects on the site with no invest fees. Entrepreneurs from virtually any field can publicize their innovations or products and get support from the ever-increasing numbers of backers.
10. Fund an Enterprise @ fundanenterprise.org
Last on my list of top 10 crowdfunding sites in Nigeria is a home brand that has been doing great things of late – Fund an Enterprise. The name speaks for the brand as it has helped lots of enterprise in funding small and large-scale products.
The firm is also present in several African nations including Ghana, Kenya and South Africa. Lots of enterprises in these countries including Nigeria have benefited hugely from this platform. The platform still sucks in certain categories which I believe will be worked on in the future.
Here you go!
But wait……
Before I round everything up, let me quickly tell you how to promote your crowdfunding link;
How to Promote Crowdfunding Campaign in Nigeria
The best ways to promote crowdfunding campaigns in Nigeria is through social media marketing.
This is how to go about it:
- Choose one of those crowdfunding sites listed above and go to their site
- Create your campaign with solid proof of your reason(s)
- Get your crowdfunding campaign link
- Create a Facebook Page & Instagram business account
- Link facebook page with Instagram to make the campaign 2-in-1
- POST a short video or Picture that talk virtually talk why you need fund or donation
NOTE: If you’ve successfully link both your Instagram and Facebook page together, POST the video or picture on Instagram and it’ll automatically appear on your facebook page
- Make sure you write convincing contents in Instagram/facebook post and insert your link after first two paragraph and second to the last paragraph.
- Boost the post on Facebook with at least N5,000, target worldwide and people interested in the category you needed donation for (either Technology, Medical, Entertainment etc)
- Sit back and keep tracking your campaign
If you can do all what I’ve listed above in the ‘right’ way, I’m sure you’ll see someone who’s generous to donate some funds for you.
But in meantime, you can check out the following related tips:
Let me clear this for you, GoFundMe is my top recommended among this list of best crowdfunding sites in NIGERIA because it gives no stress and headache, also there are lots of investors (mostly foreigners) on the platform.
You can hire me to help you get more donors for your crowdfunding campaign in Nigeria from both foreign and local investors.
NOW, let round it all off!
Rounding Off – Best Crowdfunding Sites in Nigeria to Raise Funds
These are the list of top crowdfunding platforms where you can crowdfund for an innovative idea, entrepreneurship, products or even a service.
Kindly note that you must have a very good reason with proof before thinking of outsourcing for money or donation.
And in case you don’t know how to create a crowdfunding campaign or get more donor, kindly hire me ASAP or contact this Digital Agency.
There shouldn’t be a barrier any more with the knowledge of these crowdfunding sites in Nigeria, do well to share this post with your friends and let me know what you think about this post by commenting below
This post, Top 10 Crowdfunding Sites in Nigeria is written and published by me, Stephen Gbolagade.
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Stephen Gbolagade
Stephen is a Frontend engineer, technical writer, owner and part-time blogger here at Gbolamedia, incoming data scientist, an enthusiastic cynophilist, and a curious introvert. Stephen is currently available for full-time, part-time or contract-base role. Contact him here: on WhatsApp or check him on Linkedin
Stephen Gbolagade
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