Abstract

SEGURA-MOJICA, Francisco Javier. Crowdfunding for the rescue of micro-businesses. Factors and perceptions of potential investors in Mexico. Retos [online]. 2021, vol.11, n.21, pp.71-91. ISSN 1390-8618.  https://doi.org/10.17163/ret.n20.2020.05.

During the confinement associated with the health contingency due to Covid-19, almost four hundred thousand micro and small businesses were forced to close in Mexico. This document presents the results of a quantitative descriptive and cross-sectional study, the objective of which was to track the perceptions of micro-investors and factors that would influence their decision to help rescue micro-enterprises and jobs in the scenario of the economic contingency. The Actor-Network Theory (ANT) was used as the analysis methodology. It was found that, in the scenario of economic recession associated with the health contingency, approximately 23% of economically active people have surpluses that could be used for collective financing; Furthermore, the interest of micro-investors in projects that create jobs or help to preserve existing ones has been reinforced. On the other hand, as an element that helps to trace the associations between investors and entrepreneurs, a variable that we call mediation was identified; Based on the above, a list of criteria was defined that could help design a collective financing platform with a decentralized and solidarity network approach. In addition, it was found that digitization is key for a microenterprise to aspire to obtain collective financing, and therefore, to improve its chances of survival in a scenario of economic contingency.

Keywords : Micro-enterprise; crowdfunding; actor-network; micro-investors; entrepreneurs; COVID-19; fintech; platform.

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