M-Changa, Kenya’s premier crowdfunding app, has integrated new features barely a month following its official launch, aiming to tap into the African market in the near future.
Speaking to HumanIPO, Kyai Mullei of M-Changa said that the new features included the “ability for a fundraiser to tap their contributors networks (viral networking). The system reminds contributors that they can in turn forward their invite to any of their friends and associates that would want to contribute to the fundraiser they are part of”.
The other new feature that the platform provides is competitive announcement. According to Mullei, this will include alerts for the two top contributors.
“In many cases, being able to see who has contributed the most to a fundraiser may encourage others to contribute more in turn,” Mullei said.
“M-Changa will endorse and promote a fundraiser for an individual or cause that we believe needs additional support, this allows the fundraiser to further extend their reach to tap M-Change networks on social network platforms,” he added.
As the third new function on the platform, this is service will be free for fundraisers.
Fundraising is a social norm well known in Kenya. M-Changa wants to tap into that with advanced technology in a bid to capture the African market. The prospects for the business model seem to be large.
Mullei said: “M-Changa intends to tap African mobile markets where there is pervasive use of mobile money. East Africa currently leads the continent and the world with Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda accounting for close to 85 percent of all global mobile money users.”
The company aims to spread to the rest of the continent after they establish the East African market. Their main reason to concentrate on the East African market as mobile money transfer thrives in the region.
The company however faces challenges on entering the market. Mullei said most fundraisers don’t know how to start a campaign.
“They immediately want to start fundraiser of their own but do not have the necessary tools like Keywords and instructions that are available on our website – making it difficult for them to start their fundraisers. They lack necessary keywords,” he explained.
M-Changaaims to tackle this problem by having sustained marketing on various platforms including television and newspaper advertising.
