What started as a personal gesture by acclaimed public speaker and media
entrepreneur, Japheth Omojuwa, to share a sum of N500,000 as support
grant to about 10 businesses has scaled up to be the most successful
social media inspired crowd-funding venture for small businesses in
Nigeria.
The decision to support 10 businesses
with the N500,000 grant was announced by Omojuwa via his personal
Twitter account on December 31, 2016. However, his clout and
credibility, and the transparent selection process designed for the
scheme inspired other donors to contribute to the fund. A total of N2.7
million was raised within 48 hours, all on social media.
Aptly named the Small Businesses Support
Fund, 36 businesses selected based on the merits of their applications
will benefit from the first batch of N2.7 million fund. Each of these
businesses, with the exception of one, received cash grants of between
N50,000 and N100,000, being either the sum requested for or the amount
arrived at based on evaluation. It is worthy of note that 25 out of the
36 businesses selected for the support fund are owned by women.
Widely acknowledged as one of Africa’s
most influential social media personalities, Omojuwa while announcing
the winners stated that in addition to the varying amounts of cash won,
each of the businesses selected will benefit from online promotion for
one month, courtesy of his media agency, The Alpha Reach. He further
stated that the fund will not be a one-off thing as the goal is to
support at least 100 businesses this year.
Access to credit is one out of the
myriad of problems facing business owners in Nigeria with loans from
commercial banks attracting interest as high as 20 per cent. Last year
the World Bank ranked Nigeria in 169th position in its Ease of Doing
Business index.
Observers on social media have called
the Small Business Support Fund an innovative financial model which has
potentials to revolutionise credit access for small businesses in
Nigeria. The second batch of the fund is scheduled for mid-2017 with at
least N5 million as target.
BY Chiemelie Ezeobi
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