Indian Community Benevolent Forum Elections - 2016 - 22nd November

When the demonetization started in November 2016, some people as always picked their respective sides for the issue and began developing their own fortress from which they would dessimate the argument of the other camp. But true Indians who still believe in the preamble to our constitution had a different approach.

For eg: Harini Calamur from Mumbai drew up a list of suggestions and shared it with her Facebook friends. 

Here are her thoughts:

"#Demonetisation – what you can do to help:

a) Make sure you help people in your universe – drivers, maids, cooks, building security, to get liquidity

b) Order on your cashless system for them – grains, essentials.

c) Help them with paying utilities – with your debit/credit cards (it can be adjusted from their salary).

d) Help seniors in your area to get their cash exchanged – go with them if needed.

e) If you can do without going to the bank for the next few days, don’t add to the crowd there.

Will all of these help all the people in India – No. But, will it help 4-5 people in your universe – Yes. Can you do this?

I know that it is an inconvenience. All of us are facing it too. But, it is also a given – so the question is what can you do to help?

And, while intelligent people debate on whether it impacts black money or taxation in the long run; can you help your world in the very short run?"

And these are the ways we as Indians true to our heritage should behave when facing a problem in foreign land. There might be several problems, but if the approach to resolve them is progressive and inclusive nothing is far from resolution.

Panel Candidate

ICBF 2016 Elections / MC Panel

80 officers and 100 police officials from Bhopal recently carried out astrange activity. Their actual duty is to catch criminals and bad guyz, but for the Bhopal zila and for the sake of organ transplantation theseofficers formed a green corridor, which helped the transplantation of a liver through a 13 km traffic road. Normally the route which takes coupleof hours to cover was done in 13 minutes straight!! They saved a life in an spectacular fashion.

But wait, this is not their job? this is not a criminal investigation!, and yet they evolved their perspective in protecting human lives...

A direction for Indian Community Benevolent Forum to consider. We canchange the word from Forum to fund or fund to Forum!, It does not hide the fact that we are here to genuinely help our Indian brothers and sisters in what ever way we can as ICBF.

I sincerely propose that we re-evaluate our thought process, think out side the box, not just for investment and stock market portfolios, but also for social service.

ICBF 2016 Elections / MC Panel

80 officers and 100 police officials from Bhopal recently carried out astrange activity. Their actual duty is to catch criminals and bad guyz, but for the Bhopal zila and for the sake of organ transplantation theseofficers formed a green corridor, which helped the transplantation of a liver through a 13 km traffic road. Normally the route which takes coupleof hours to cover was done in 13 minutes straight!! They saved a life in an spectacular fashion.

But wait, this is not their job? this is not a criminal investigation!, and yet they evolved their perspective in protecting human lives...

A direction for Indian Community Benevolent Forum to consider. We canchange the word from Forum to fund or fund to Forum!, It does not hide the fact that we are here to genuinely help our Indian brothers and sisters in what ever way we can as ICBF.

I sincerely propose that we re-evaluate our thought process, think out side the box, not just for investment and stock market portfolios, but also for social service.

Top 5 middle east crowd funders..

MIDDLE EAST CROWD FUNDING TOP 5 PLATFORMS

 

CROWD FUNDING

Just when we thought that the financial scene of our society could not get any more boring, it just turned around gave us the most pleasant shock of decades. The JOBS Act that was passed in April of 2012 paved the way to investment crowd funding, but the JOBS Act Rulings by the SEC have yet to be fully implemented to formally kick the market off.

The Crowd funding Industry Report  by Mas solution put out data showing the overall crowd funding industry has raised $2.7 billion in 2012, across more than 1 million individual campaigns globally. In 2013 the industry is projected to grow to $5.1 billion. 

What is Crowd Funding?

Crowd funding (alternately crowd financing, equity crowd funding, crowd-sourced fundraising) is the collective effort of individuals who network and pool their money, usually via the Internet, to support efforts initiated by other people or organizations. Crowd funding is used in support of a wide variety of activities, including disaster relief, citizen journalism, support of artists by fans, political campaigns, startup company funding, motion picture promotion, free software development, inventions development, scientific research, and civic projects.

Crowd Funding Models:

There are 2 main models or types of crowd funding. The first is what’s called ..

1.     Donation-based funding:

The real origination of crowd funding has come through this model, where funders donate via a collaborative goal based process in return for products, perks or rewards.

2.     Investment crowd funding:

The second and more recent model is investment crowd funding, where businesses seeking capital sell ownership stakes online in the form of equity or debt. In this model, individuals who fund become owners or shareholders and have a potential for financial return, unlike in the donation model.

Although we have an impressive list of successful Crowd Funding platforms all over the world, middle east has been seeing some new action in this area. The Top 5 Crowd Funding Platforms in the MENA region and some more are as follows..,

1.  ZOOMAL

The platform,  Zoomaal, is backed by several venture capital firms throughout the Arab region and aims to support projects that require $5,000 or less, says CEO Abdallah Absi.

Each project must fit into one of the platform's categories and be accompanied by a video, a biography of the project owner and a series of "gifts" to incentivize potential backers to pledge money. Uniquely, Zoomaal will focus on projects in the Arab world. “There’s currently no organized platform where potential donors, including Arab expats, can browse projects in the Middle East,” says Absi. Once the payment is collected, Zoomaal wires it to the project owner.

In line with regional sensitivities, banned projects include anything to do with alcohol, politics, violence, religion and pornography.

Globally,  crowd funding is  seeing  explosive growth.  In  2012,  the  market grew  81%  to  $2.7  billion, according industry researchers Massolution. But in the Middle East the concept is only just catching on.

2.  YOMKEN. - EGYPT

A non-profit social enterprise, it aims to link up low-tech manufacturers -- who, in Egypt, are often slum- dwellers -- with artists, scientists, engineers and product designers who can help them innovate in their businesses. Once a prototype of a new product has been made, it can be posted on the site, allowing customers to pre-order.

3.  AFLAMNAH - DUBAI

Launched in July of 2012 to offer project-based crowd funding to the Arab world. While it’s Dubai-based and largely focused on films, one of its prominent current projects includes a bid for a  mobile art bus in Palestine. 

4.  YOOFERS - BEIRUT

Launched in Beirut, as a global platform encouraging people to leverage their social networks to fund small items they need. Unfortunately for reasons unkown this one has closed down recently..

5.  ENTELAK- DUBAI

Entelak.com is a crowd funding platform directed towards the Middle East, with the aim to help the Arab economy by connecting entrepreneurs and the crowd who would be interested in investing in their startups. Entelak team screens fund raising applicants, reviews their business and legal documents to ensure their credibility. Once approved their business with all details are posted online for the public to fund within a 90 day time frame.

Who can join as a capital seeker/fund raiser?

Following countries:

•    UAE &

•    Egypt.

More countries will be included later on.

•    You must have a legally registered Company either in Egypt or UAE.

•    You must pass legal and financial screening.

6.   EUREECA - DUBAI



 

7.      DENTONS – GLOBAL / MIDDLE EAST PRESENCE

Crowd funding holds out the promise—or threat—of revolutionizing how funds for projects or businesses are raised. Managing the complexities of this emerging method of raising capital requires experience in multiple disciplines, including securities, tax, financial services and e-commerce.

·       Businesses establishing novel models for equity crowd funding

·       Securities brokers and dealers adopting or enhancing Internet-based platforms

·       Portals for non-equity crowd funding, such as platforms that offer donation, reward and/or pre-sale models

·       Financial service institutions and new entrants interested in peer-to-peer lending

·       Accelerators, incubators, angel organizations and startups creating portals or raising funds through crowd funding

·       Support organizations that provide back office and other services to crowd funding portal

 8.     Shekra - EGYPT

Projects submitted in this platform are subject to its review. That is before it will go live for social communities to see online. Those that will not make it to its standard will be given help. The entrepreneur behind the idea will be trained under its expert personnel. This is one platform crowd funding Arab projects who have a small network of supporters. It had been said that they have only had 70 in total.