Crowdfunding is powerful. People have raised millions of dollars via this medium for really important stuff, and for ridiculously not important stuff. But nearly all that action excludes African projects. It would seem. I got an email this morning from someone who claimed to not have seen a successful African crowdfunded project*, and I needed to set them straight, because I know at least two.
- BRCK - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1776324009/brck-your-backup-generator-for-the-internet
- Yorubanames - https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-yoruba-names-dictionary
Trouble is, I’ve got only two examples, and I’m fairly certain (or I hope) that there are more. Would be great if we could add to this list. Yes, I’m going somewhere with this, humour me please. Perhaps there is something we could learn from these examples?
*I realise that some of us are going to try and split hairs about what exactly an “African crowdfunded project is”. My definition is a project that was created by Africans in Africa. I hope that makes sense.