EL USO DEL “CROWDFUNDING” PARA FINANCIAR EMPRENDIMIENTOS DE ESTUDIANTES UNIVERSITARIOS DE CIENCIAS ADMINISTRATIVAS EN GUAYAQUIL

Abstract

The crowdfunding enables entrepreneurs finance their projects by connecting them with people that makes micro - contributions, while providing the public means to invest in projects of their interest using internet platforms without the use of financial intermediaries. This method of financing which has its origins in the “open source” movement, offers special benefits for innovative enterprises and has become popular globally, raising approximately $ 5.1 billion during 2013, after only eight years of existence of its greatest exponents; however it is still little known in our society. This paper makes a descriptive investigation about crowdfunding, as well as a quantitative analysis on managerial science college’ students and the funding methods used by them to capitalize their startups. The results reflect poor knowledge and use of crowdfunding among the investigated students, which leaded to generate a series of recommendations to guide them on the implementation of a crowdfunding campaign.