Cyril Dason
KUCHING: In today’s fast-paced digital world, new online trends are emerging as both businesses and consumers evolve and adapt to better match demand and supply – such examples include Airbnb and Uber.
As a new method of pooling sources together online, not many Malaysians – specifically Sarawakians – are aware of another emerging trend called crowdfunding.
This was the problem faced by Cyril Dason in organising the HashtagLive Kuching, an event hoped to be funded by businesses and the public to support local talent.
“When we decided to use crowdfunding as a platform to procure funds, we were aware that the concept is perhaps still new to Sarawakians,” he explained to The Borneo Post in an interview recently.
“The response we are getting from our efforts is evidence to that and hence, why we are going to implement several key strategies with hope we can boost the funds before the due date which is in June.” Globally, crowdfunding is proving to be a successful business model to raise funds from the public.
Good examples of successful platforms include Kickstarter and Indiegogo.
When asked why Sarawak’s response has been lackluster to date – whether the cause was a lack of education, or that the concept was perhaps too new – Cyril believed it to be both.
“I was introduced to crowdfunding last year, and I thought the whole concept was excellent to get the community involved in projects which give back to the people.
“Unfortunately, such forums are rare in Sarawak, and even if they are available, getting people to attend such forums is already a challenge because Sarawakians tend to shy away from something fresh and new, and would only jump on the bandwagon once that something is already popular.” This is where HashtagLive Kuching comes in, he said.
“We are doing the event as the first crowdfunding effort in East Malaysia, and with our vast presence online, we are already creating a hype about the event,” he explained.
“This has caused people to take notice of the event, and also crowdfunding, and hence indirectly making them learn more about it.”
The real challenge, he went on to add, is to get these people to pledge their support financially because some of these people do not see how the project/event benefits them and the community.
Meanwhile, other challenges include a lack of versatility in online transactions, which is a huge component of crowdfunding.
“I believe many do not see the benefits of HashtagLive Kuching. We are hoping to gear HashtagLive Kuching as the biggest community Social Media event in East Malaysia and justify the funding we are hoping to get.
“To us, it is useless to provide a platform to highlight unknown talents when the crowd is not there to watch, because the number of people present at the event will determine the impact made to these new talents.
“Based on our experience when organising the award winning Tweet-Up Kuching, we know that we need to bring the crowd to the event for maximum exposure of our new local talents.”
To ensure the success of the event, Cyril said the organising team has included more detailled planning with experts in numerous fields joining the committee.
“For corporate sponsors, HashtagLive Kuching would fit well as one of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts, but on a bigger scale, it would help elevate their branding, services and products to the youth crowd, which is a huge market,” he underscored.
“At this point, we are optimistic we would get the funds needed to run the event and have decided to only discuss about failure when we cross that bridge.
“I am hopeful that the people of Sarawak would pledge their support and funds for HashtagLive Kuching, not only because this is an event by local Sarawakians meant to help Sarawakians, but also because it is an event meant to help us bring something beyond just entertainment from social media to community.” Every pledge made would be rewarded if the event’s goal is reached.
If it isn’t the pledged amount will be refunded in full.
“Apart from that, I would love to have Sarawak craft its name in the history of crowdfunding by having the first ever crowd funded event in Borneo because if history was to be made, Sarawak would be my preferred location.”