Get support for your crowdfunding campaign: fundmystudies

For anyone who is applying from Africa to study at the top schools or even the ordinary schools in Europe and America, he/she is obliged to consider funding their education through full-scholarship opportunities; unless of course they are among the minority of the population coming from a very rich family.
Do you remember the half-scholarship coverage you dropped because you do not have the means to come up with the rest of the amount? Let’s end our discussion about affordability and jump straight to #fundmystudies platform that was co-founded by Addis Tigabu and Eva Hanau.
Addis Tigabu was fortunate enough to get accepted at Frankfurt School of Finance and Management in Germany as well as receive a scholarship of 80% of the tuition fee for his Master in International Business (MIB). Even though he was able to come up with the rest of the tuition fee (the 20%), he encountered a challenge to finance his living expense for his stay in the country.  Based on the country’s regulations, a foreign student must have at least 8000€ which should cover all costs for one year. That is when he realized that this challenge is not just his but of many other Ethiopians as well.
Addis explains the importance of creating an appealing and effective pitch in the process of launching a crowdfunding campaign for his studies on the platform called Indiegogo. Through collaborations with local creatives Addis received support to set up a professional campaign that gives insights into his everyday life from a ‘local’ perspective. Thanks to supporters like Abenezer and Arma Consulting/Business Service the campaign became reality.

 
Overwhelmed by the final result Addis thought about how to give back to the community. The idea of the fundmystudies plattform was born. fundmystudies allows to leverage community expertise in making a professional and appealing story for individual crowdfunding campaigns.
Addis says: “I believe it’s time to change the rules of the game and create a “scholarship” opportunity in the most democratic way possible: Raising funds for education through a crowdfunding campaign enables each side, funders and future potentials to contribute to future change by their respective means. In order to create change we need to help young potentials to overcome the obstacles that have nothing to do with their abilities, but the fact on which continent they were born.”
Since its launch, fundmystudies has also been analysing the best way to allow Ethiopians not only to receive funds but also to create a means where they support others’ campaigns. For various reasons access to common crowdfunding platforms from within Ethiopia is limited. Addis mentions that #fundmystudies currently elaborates the potential of mobile fundraising which has already been successfully used in Ethiopia.
You can find more information on fundmystudies here:
http://fundmystudies.org/