Kapital Boost Sharia Crowdfunding Platform Will Soon Open Representative Office in Indonesia

Capital Boost, platform through crowdfunding or joint funding that applies Islamic sharia principles, is increasingly active in fundraising in the Southeast Asia region, including in Indonesia. In the near future, the Singapore-based company and has been established since July 2015, will open a representative office in Indonesia. Later, Kapital Boost Indonesia will fully operate in Indonesia in order to accelerate business growth.

“To date, we have managed to fund 11 projects in Indonesia worth more than 5 billion Rupiah. Globally, we have raised more than 9 billion Rupiah, including for projects in Malaysia, Singapore and Australia," said Indonesia Country Head Ronald Wijaya.

Boost Capital specifically targeting MSME actors in Southeast Asia who are currently still having difficulty getting funds for business through banks. This is the impact of the increasingly stringent requirements and regulations for business financing credit applied.

To build trust and attract more investors, Kapital Boost actively utilizes social media, such as Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram, and YouTube by prioritizing transparency as the main capital.

"We get a lot of investors by sharing concepts at events, both large and small events, asking them to register at website (free) so they can email blasts which contains Update us regularly,” said Ronald.

Strict screening of prospective borrowers

Even though they often experience obstacles in running their business, especially with regard to the regulations applied by each country, Kapital Boost is still actively looking for investors to select candidates who will later be entitled to funding by way of through crowdfunding Islamic sharia principles.

"For Indonesia so far the Financial Services Authority (OJK) is very supportive. What is important as a platform is that we are able to secure investor funds and are able to mitigate the risks that may arise,” said Ronald.

To ensure that the candidate is the right person and honestly runs the business, Kapital Boost carries out a fairly rigorous selection process, starting from inspection, in-depth analysis of the business, background, asset ownership, purchase order, previous year's company balance sheet, and even social media scoring borrower. This is done to ensure that the funds submitted are for the project purposes as proposed.

"For that we usually use the structure of the Murabaha agreement. Together with that, we will also ask for a list of assets to be purchased, the profile of the supplier of goods, and the price of the goods to be purchased. Then we will ask for receipts from the purchase of these assets,” said Ronald.

Planning to do a fundraiser

To promote the business being run, Kapital Boost utilizes partnerships with several entrepreneurial communities, such as Hands Above (TDA), DKI Jakarta KADIN UMKM, West Java KADIN, and the Indonesian Laundry Association.

"In the near future we will also cooperate with HijUp and the Indonesian Muslim Entrepreneurs Association in Bandung," said Ronald.

Throughout 2016, it is hoped that Kapital Boost can get additional funds or investments from parties who have the same vision and mission as Kapital Boost. Kapital Boost plans to raise funds in Indonesia and collect at least 2-3 times what Kapital Boost has earned so far.