Islamic crowdfunding model for empowering student entrepreneurship program in Malaysia

Abstract

This paper aims to explore the potential of crowdfunding in empowering student entrepreneurship programs in Malaysia. Recently, digital crowdfunding has been considered a new unique tool for pooling funds through online platforms. This modern fundraising technique has successfully supported business activities and community-based projects. This concept can be utilized to support the current student entrepreneurship programs at universities, where it was reported that these institutions had experienced a limitation in terms of budget. Over the period, students at higher education institutions have witnessed challenges and difficulties in surviving their learning journey, particularly in terms of financial capability. Entrepreneurship is believed to be able to help students discover an additional income during their studies. Based on the interview, it was found that crowdfunding should be promoted to support small entrepreneurs, including students. However, proper models are needed to ensure crowdfunding is not misused and its efficiency and applicability. Regarding student entrepreneurship programs, Waqf and Infaq can be applied as crowdfunding models. The outcome of this paper would benefit many parties, including student entrepreneurs, crowdfunding platforms, universities, and society.