THE STRATEGY OF ISLAMIC CROWDFUNDING MODELS IN SUPPORTING SINGLE MOTHER ENTREPRENEURS IN THE EMERGING MARKET: A QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS.

Nowadays, crowdfunding offers various benefits in supporting entrepreneurs to begin or expand their businesses. This unique financial concept has become a new alternative source of business funding. Crowdfunding can support certain groups of entrepreneurs, particularly single mother entrepreneurs, as they have experienced challenges accessing funds from government agencies or financial institutions. This study explores the potential of Islamic crowdfunding as an alternative source of funds for this group. The data are obtained through semi-structured interviews with eleven experts in related fields based on a qualitative research approach. This study found that single mothers can be successful entrepreneurs as far as they are provided with training, funding and monitoring. Islamic crowdfunding can be potential alternative funding to support their business through various instruments like mudharabah, infaq and qard, depending on business projects and the background of entrepreneurs. Although the number of respondents for this study is still limited because of the qualitative design, it has enriched the current literature on crowdfunding and proposed several Islamic crowdfunding models to support single mother entrepreneurs in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]