Crowd funding site launches for creative SMEs

"As an entrepreneur, filmmaker, writer and performing artist, who has constantly struggled to get my ideas out there and get funding, I saw an opportunity to tackle both issues in the social media space, and potentially see other like-minded people succeed. Not only will it benefit our community and support SMEs and small business, but it will also uplift, sustain and create awareness for our budding, creative people in South Africa, Africa and abroad."

The site has a simple process. Users must register their project to participate. "We accept a number of projects within the parameters of creative and each project submitted is reviewed to ensure it matches the criteria. We will attempt to assist if the concept is not quite there, or we will notify the project owner if they do not meet the requirements."

Guidelines

The site's guidelines are to make sure you have an eye-catching and clever title, followed by the details of the project and the period. Here Walton advises, "It's a good idea to break your project into phases affording you timeous and achievable goals. Following that you need to list your objectives, give a detailed, interesting description and outline what incentives are on offer. A project can only be posted for a maximum of 6 months. The minimum contribution by a sponsor is R50.

"What we have done is not new and has proven successful abroad with larger established sites, but Africa is catching on to the crowd funding trend with the expansion of the internet and availability."

Whilst JustR1.com promises exposure online to its 'crowd', it also remains the responsibility of the project owners to communicate, update, respond and share their idea with their network, to build a database and to direct potential contributors to the site.

Charity contributions

"A unique angle to the site is that for every contribution you receive for your project, the site will donate R1 to a charity, so not only are you creating exposure and funding for your idea, but you are also paying it forward, and giving back." The company has selected a number of charities and the programme is set up in such a way that it randomly selects to which charity the funds will be channelled.

If a project is successful and incentives are received, the project owner keeps the contribution. On completion of the project or the first phase, the project manager can decide if he wishes to continue or he can opt to donate all the money to charity. JustR1.com keeps 10% of all contributions made.

The site is looking for ideas in the art, animation, charity, design, film, fashion, film & video, music, photography, publishing, toys and theatre field. For more information, go to www.justr1.com/index.php.