Re-imagining Learning and Crowdfunding with Mike Channa - Huffington Post
Read the full interview on Huffington Post!
Every entrepreneur has a story worth taking an inspiration from. What is yours?
Once upon a time… ha! Having very humble beginnings, but ambitious dreams never leads to a straight forward path, but that doesn’t mean one should stop dreaming. I was set on that path as a young boy from a small village in North India, instilled with strong core values, which eventually led to travels around the world and finishing my Masters in Oxford, and that is the same path which has now led me to Serbia (not Siberia!). I was picking up bits from almost everything along the way, and that will never stop. The journey of entrepreneurship takes the toll; it is like a roller coaster ride. I have been put down and misunderstood countless times, the lack of support maybe tenuous, everyday can be a struggle... but that is what motivates and inspires the best out of us.
Over the past decade, I have been involved in all kinds of industries and helped numerous businesses and people, much more than myself. When the time was right or rather the needs were unavoidable, I established TESLA Learning Center and CROWDiscover, both of which now have a life of their own. In the midst of it all, I have been called a visionary; a dreaming fool, one-man army (here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits...); a Crowdfunding, Learning and Startup Aficionado; an Investor in people; a Hospitality and Management Consultant; Development Chef; Graphic and Web Designer… the list is rather long. At the end of the day, I might be nothing else but an entrepreneur, but everything else at the same time.
So here’s the catch - as humans we have a tendency to refine everything to make it comprehensible. If one can be a good father or mother, brother or sister, husband or wife or more at the same time, the same may apply to your work ethics. Don’t let the world define you by their titles, rules or put you in a box, break the box! Don’t limit yourself; be good at everything you do and whenever you do it.
Tell us about the latest trends in the education industry.
Businesses are ever-evolving, as they must. Although the education industry tends to be less trendy in terms of rapid change, innovation continues to have a powerful impact. Students are not only the consumers, but also play a vital role in evaluating information and formative assessment. The idea of ‘a classroom’ is evolving with focus on specially designed learning spaces and seamless integration of technologies. Concepts like flipped learning and centralised e-learning have been around for a while, but they have started going mainstream. Going forward, adopting and ensuring scalability of such methodologies will play a key role, and it is also at the core of our expansion plans at TESLA Learning Center.
Tell us more about the latest market trends concerning your area of expertise.
If we talk about crowdfunding, what started as an industry in its infancy has rapidly grown into a multi-billion dollar giant. It is perhaps by far the best global marketplace for buying new products or venturing into something new, as the industry thrives on creativity. Gone are the days when Kickstarter or Indiegogo were the default choice, as there is now a crowdfunding platform for every niche and segment. Companies are deviating towards a shared responsibility of success of a campaign, giving equal emphasis to the campaigner, and not just the backers. For product oriented campaigns, the process has become far more streamlined than before, but not necessarily easier. At CROWDiscover, we have a highly engaging and direct approach with the campaigners, as most of them tend to focus more on their projects, than the campaign itself.
How can our readers get in touch with you and collaborate?
We are always on the outlook for collaborators, franchising and investment opportunities throughout the business’s infrastructure, across the spectrum of our work. Although these businesses are relatively young, with our expansion plans on the horizon and plethora of opportunities, we would love to get connected to more like minded people. There is a lot to be gained in many aspects; both in terms of monetary and ethical terms, for everyone who wants to get keenly involved. “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do” - Steve Jobs. Further information about our work can be found on:
After almost a year from the day we started working on the first ever BETA Serbia’s crowdfunding campaign and after hundreds of challenges we faced, hurdles we had to jump over, and obstacles we had to overcome... we came to the end of the process.
As a concept of fundraising, crowdfunding is new to Serbia and we came into it as total amateurs, after being contacted by Ms. Sladjana Jošanović, who brought us together with CROWDiscover and its founder Mr. Mike Channa.
Together, we embarked on this journey, not just for the financial benefit of our organization and for our goals, but also to obtain the knowledge and skills which can be utilized for many different projects in the future. For the venue through which to conduct the campaign, we chose the fundraising platform INDIEGOGO and started with preparations.
We owe enormous gratitude to Mr. Channa. who initiated all the work, including re-branding of BETA, which resulted in a new website, two blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages in English, and many other events, too many to list. We were featured on several mainstream websites and attended several interviews, but most of all... we were extremely proud to be featured as one of the Top 100 Animal Welfare brands in the world by an independent study conducted by Onalytica in the U.K.
When the campaign went live in October, 2016, we had hoped it to be the rebirth of our whole organization and, with it, the state of the well-being of abandoned animals in Serbia. In the end, the results turned out to be more modest than we expected, at least looking at it from a purely financial perspective. We collected $2,045.00, which was not nearly enough to achieve all the goals we set in the beginning.
When all the provisions and fees of INDIEGOGO, CROWDiscover, PayPal and banks were paid off, we were left with an amount of $1,035.00. As we have announced during the planning stage of the campaign - unless the financial goal was fully met, the money collected will be used to cover the most basic needs of the organization, primarily vet expenses and to a lesser extent, food for the animals.
The funds raised were divided between our Belgrade, Zaječar and Knjaževac branch, and all the vet and food bills can be found attached.
It would be unfair to look at this experience solely from a financial point, so we do consider this first foray into crowdfunding as a modest success. We would like to take this opportunity to express our heartfelt gratitude to our 72 backers; to everyone who participated in the Thunderclap campaign, which preceded the main campaign and reached 2.3 Million people worldwide; to everyone who helped in the translation of various posts, especially Sanja Kaurin; to all who liked, shared, or commented on our posts and in any way contributed to our campaign and particularly to the members of CROWDiscover team, who were a driving force of the whole process from the first, until the last day.
We thank you all, and please do continue to follow all our channels of communication and help us to continue to be the VOICE OF THE VOICELESS!
