Crowdlending: A global phenomenon arrives to Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Thanks to globalization, crowdfunding in general has become a relevant mean through which small business owners and entrepreneurs in developing countries can raise the capital needed to start and expand their businesses. In this context, attention should be paid to crowdlending, the online loan-based crowdfunding phenomenon and a very promising and stimulating way to foster entrepreneurship and innovation. In this chapter we use a case-based exploratory analysis to outline some of the factors that influence the success of crowdlending platforms in Africa, specifically in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). To do so, we first present the status of crowdlending in SSA and then present the case of Kiva crowdlending platform. Kiva is the most important loan-based platform in SSA. Understanding how Kiva has achieved this success and has become the largest crowdlending platform in SSA as per number of loans delivered is of interest for both practitioners and researchers. Our analysis focuses specifically on three factors: country characteristics, market entrance and network.