Johannesburg - The dynamics in the business world have changed and are a lot different to what they were a decade ago.
Employees today desire more from their day-to-day jobs. It is common for employees to propose projects, close to their aspirations, that could be harmonised into their day-to-day job activities. Employees have become entrepreneurial.
A report by the Association of Certified Chartered Accountant (Acca) suggests that employees are loyal to the following three factors: mastery of one’s subject, autonomy and psychological relatedness of their values.
A lot of employees desire to serve their community by relating their job activities with the needs in society.
“The entrepreneurial approach” has found fame in the corridors of business and more and more employees and businesses are enjoying the benefits of this approach. CFOs and team leaders that embrace such practice are however often faced with the challenge of financing these projects," according to Acca.
Crowdfunding has become a new way that SMEs around the globe are financing their projects. Crowdfunding is not only reserved for SMEs, but it can be utilised by CFOs that do not have the budget to finance all the projects that employees desire to engage in.
"Crowdfunding is by definition, “the practice of funding a project or venture by raising many small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via the Internet,” according to Acca.
This is not a new phenomenon, the only difference is that it is now web-based and the pool for investors is much greater than before when one had to approach individuals they hoped would invest in their cause.
How does crowdfunding work?
There are web-based platforms that CFOs can go to or direct their employees to. In South Africa the phenomenon is still at its young stages, but there are platforms that have been established to cater for this need.