Fund For Her: A Crowdfunding Platform for Women's SMEs

FundForHer aims to provide women easy access to financial support to start or expand her business. We hope to create a ripple effect that will ease up the integration of women to the world of business and ultimately, empower women to climb both the social and economical status ladder.

Women have a tremendous impact on small and medium business enterprise landscapes all over the world (World Bank). However, at the same time, women are constantly being turned away for small business loans by the bank (Guardian). Often times, pitching in front of investors and ventures (a field dominated by men) leads to the creation of unconscious bias, which could unfortunately result in the refusal of fund. Moreover, there is a lack of platform where women can promote her business. Therefore, as a result, women find themselves restraint by their financial condition and unable to start or expand their business. 

Many initiatives similar to FundForHer that touches people up the grassroots level have proven to be very effective. Some of the examples of these organizations include THRIVE(Cambodia), Women for Women (International), Kuntha Bopha (Cambodia), and Camfed (Zimbabwe). It is found that these kinds of bottom-up approach in developmental work possess superiority in bringing about great social and economical change. 

There are four impacts that we hope to make: 1) raise women's ability to manage their SMEs 2) help create & expand their business 3) increase their household income, thus the quality of living 4) constructively change women's social status. The benefits will first be deployed directly to the women through fund and education, then we trust that trickle-down effect will bring the benefits to their family and society. 

Track down applications on the website, or keep track of membership profiles. - 1 000 SME's in Southeast Asia applies for fund through our website

Strictly pre-secreening applications by using a ranking system in order to avoid frauds. Upon funding, work closely with the applicants to track the growth of their business (data, research). - An increase in the women's business profit by 20% in the first year

Ask to create biographies of the women, interview them about their roles in the society and their business condition prior to and after the funding. - Empower women by enabling them to be financially independent (sometimes might translates into a rise of their social status, thus, making them more eligible for leadership roles in some conservative communities)

Our solution is innovative because we are converting the traditional ways of peer-to-peer funding into an easily accessible online crowdfunding platform. While this technology already currently exists, it will be the first time that it is applied to specifically contribute to one of the fastest-growing sectors in the developing world: women's small and medium enterprises. It is unique, because unlike other solutions, ours start small and concise and aim to create big direct and measurable impacts in women’s lives, introducing constructive changes to both their economical and social status.

In the twenty-first century, women-for-women initiatives are no longer effective. How do we keep progressing towards equal rights when only about half of the population is listening? Therefore, by designing a platform that would benefit both men and women, more and more people will come to understand the importance of the contribution of women to the economy and society. Likewise, the solution will start, end and involve people from every corner of the world who wishes to help and it will act as an invitation for everyone to stand in support for equal rights.

People from all over the world who has any form of online payment can browse on FundForHer, look for a business that they support and fund it (in forms of donation or investments). It is as easy as click and pay. The fund, then, goes directly to the women's bank account. If they happen to not have access to this, the women themselves can specify on their application and a local FundForHer office will carefully handle the transfer payment to them through affordable services such as eMoney (Cambodia).

There are various solutions that we have derived in order for our team to stay sustained financially: 

- Charge processing fees & apply fees for funds raised over a certain amount.

- Use Google Ad Sense to generate income as traffic increases on our website and videos on Youtube (stories about the women). 

- Start writing articles and books about the success stories. 

- Start charging membership fees. 

- Recruit on-campus for students as volunteers to work part-time for FundForHer.

- Fundraise by hosting networking events for sponsors, annual award galas for our women in SME's.

- Search for individual investors or ventures interested in support FundForHer initiatives.

- Apply for fund periodically from the government, embassies and local NGOs.

One aspect of the solution that we are concerned with is getting the fund donated to women in rural areas in developing countries like Cambodia, as most of them do not have access to a bank account. Due to this problem, there would need to be a local office and workers to serve the sole purpose of transacting funds or assist women in creating bank accounts. We also need to ensure that our platform is available both in English and Khmer (or any other local language) to ensure it is accessible to many people. 

As an engineering student, I enjoy solving, whether it is a mathematical or social problem. Moreover, I believe in the act of making possibilities. When you combine these two passions together, you get an activist, and that is exactly who I am: a girl who yearns for social change. By becoming a Solver, I will be thrown into a world of seamless possibilities, and be connected to like-minded individuals who will remind me to push boundaries and keep making what is perceived to be "impossible" possible. 

I am in contact with SHEInvestments. Other potential partners include Thrive International and local banks.

Other financial service providers are our potential competitors.