In the grand scheme of things, investing in the stock markets of the world’s established industrial economies is — and has always been — an elitist activity. But when it comes to crowdfunding, things were meant to be different.

Just think about it. Crowdfunding started off, only a few short years ago, as a way of democratising investment. The big idea was to support founders who couldn’t access traditional funding streams, thereby opening up investment and driving growth and opportunity on a new stage.

A fine idea, for sure. But there’s a problem, because these days — partly because the platforms are all now backed by traditional investment — crowdfunding looks a lot like the other investment models. It’s expensive, difficult to access, and largely self-serving.

Of course we aren’t the only ones to have noticed. This is a problem the World Bank has explored and raised in relation to emerging economies — and just how little crowdfunding flows beyond the global mainstream to where it’s arguably needed most.

What’s to be done?

At Acorn, we are passionate about the failures of crowdfunding in the world’s emerging market economies. We also understand that, while our own platform can help to shift things in its own way, there’s potentially a bigger movement here that we want to explore and support.

And it doesn’t matter if it’s a movement that hasn’t gotten much momentum yet. Because if we all push for change, we can be that change.

To forge a global movement sounds hard, but we can also reassure ourselves it’s easier than it has ever been, thanks to social media, petitions sites and more. (Just think of the impact of the #metoo movement in recent weeks.)

So our plan is just to get cracking. To reach out to business communities around the world, to trade groups, to regulators and to key contacts in the governments of emerging economies to work out how best to champion the direction shift that’s needed in the world’s crowdfunding movement. We want to move the dial fast, make no mistake.

What do we want to see happen? All the things we are trying to do with Acorn already.

Crowdfunding without fees attached

Just the right support for new projects to improve their chances of success, wherever they are in the world

A broader profile of opportunities landing crowdfunding, from community projects and small local enterprises through to big-ticket, big-opportunity innovation plays

Financial barriers to a global crowdfunding movement being removed.

That will do for starters. Expect some serious follow-up very soon. We’ll spell out what the next steps are — and act.

Who’s with us and ready to join the #globalcrowd

Join us on Telegram and visit our website for more information.