What is the potential for crowdfunding in Africa?
Meseret (Messi) Warner replied:
Crowdfunding in Africa is in its infancy stage of development. Just like in the U.S., donation and reward-based crowdfunding has been trying to take hold in the market for the last several years. That said, equity crowdfunding is springing around since 2015/16 with its potential being recognized by governments and the development/donor community including ours (https://igniteinvestment.com/) launched in September 2022.
With over 80% of African businesses being Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) facing a critical lack of access to finance because of collateralized debt financing, the potential for crowdfunding is estimated to reach over 2 Billion in sub-Sahara Africa by just 2025. I also know that Wefunder and Republic have been eyeing around the African equity crowdfunding market. In fact, I actually participated in one of Republic's Twitter spaces event talking about how African company fundraised on their platform.
Hope this help and have a look at these two articles that may give you some more information: https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/july-2022/crowdfunding-emerging-financing-source-african-entrepreneurs#:~:text=Forecasts%20now%20show%20that%20crowdfunding,cent%20of%20the%20global%20market.
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-46309-0_14
Meseret (Messi) Warner replied:
I would just add, with a lack of a good regulatory framework in almost all except a couple of countries, equity crowdfunding in Africa has been lagging behind the world. However, its potential and recognition is growing rapidly.