Housing Developers’ Awareness on Crowdfunding for Housing Development Project Financing in Abuja, Nigeria

This study is aimed at assessing the awareness and knowledge of stakeholders regarding the adoption and use of crowdfunding as a financing instrument among startups and MSMEs in the Nigerian housing industry. The level of stakeholders’ awareness of crowdfunding as a financing tool for projects and stakeholders' knowledge of crowdfunding potentials for financing projects were determined. A quantitative research design was employed, utilizing an online survey strategy. Through a simple random sampling technique, a Google Form structured questionnaire based on a 5-point Likert Scale was sent to 352 REDAN members in the Abuja branch via WhatsApp, Instagram and emails. Only 330 responses representing 93.75% of total questionnaire were received, while 12 questionnaires representing 3.41% of total questionnaire were not responded to. SSPSS version 24 software was used to analyze the data. The results showed that 49.1% of the respondents with a mean score of 4.45 have a fair understanding of crowdfunding as a funding option for business ideas, ranking first in the list. The second highest ranking was "I have heard and read about the concept of crowdfunding as a funding option for businesses but I don’t know how it functions practically" with a mean of 3.82, which accounted for 35.5% of the respondents. Regarding the knowledge of stakeholders on the potentials of crowdfunding for financing housing development projects in Abuja, the results show that stakeholders have a high level of knowledge, with a mean score of 4.95 out of 5. The highest mean scores are for the statements "Crowdfunding allows projects to increase visibility through the crowdfunding platform" and "Facilitates the dynamic interaction between funders and backers through collaboration, openness and participation,". The study's findings suggest that there is a need to educate stakeholders, particularly entrepreneurs and small business owners, about the concept and functionality of crowdfunding.