UNAIR NEWS – Business nowadays is growing rapidly. Consequently, a lot of young people started various kinds of businesses. However, a lot of them experience financial constraints, especially on the capital as a step to start a business. The presence of crowdfunding can be a potential step for the people of Indonesia.
Crowdfunding is a fundraising from the community to finance a project, loans to individuals / businesses or other needs through a web-based platform . In addition to funding, crowdfunding also aims to find out market responses, consumer tastes, market products, and become a branding tool for business people. Crowdfunding is categorized into debt crowdfunding , equity crowdfunding , and crowdfunding donation .
The fundraising is carried out voluntarily, investors can be from the community, individuals not companies, banks, non-banking financial institutions, and the government. With crowdfunding, people are free to be creative, creating brilliant ideas to attract financial support from various crowfunding sites. At the moment, there are many choices for crowdfunding sites in Indonesia . For example, kitabisa.com, wujudkan.com, ayopeduli.com, gandengtangan.org , and other websites.
But it cannot be denied, there is still a risk of crowdfunding failure. Recently several crowdfunding sites said they would immediately close the service. The reasons are varied, the site may not provide data accurately, the borrower does not fulfill its obligations, fraud occurs due to anonymity. So legality is needed as a step to anticipate failure.
Law and sophistication of business changes
In line with the rapid pace of business change, Professor of UNAIR Faculty of Law, Prof. Moch. Isnaeni, S.H., M.S., said that there are no business activities without legality. The law is able to compensate for any changes that occur. Through contracts, business activities can be carried out in an orderly manner. Moreover, funding with crowdfunding sites has the potential risk of fraud.
“The key is in the freedom principle of contract. Freedom to contract is the main requirement to handle business flows that continue to change, “he continued.
Prof. Isnaeni said, the principle of freedom of contract is contained in Article 1338 BW, which conveys the freedom to make agreements with anyone and about anything as long as they do not violate the law. The stipulated regulations must be agreed upon by both parties and are binding. If one party does not comply with the agreement, the aggrieved party can claim compensation.
“In Indonesia, the contractual aspect of crowdfunding has been widely discussed lately. The community started responding critically to the failure of crowdfunding sites,” explained Prof. Isnaeni.
He hoped that people will always rely the law in starting business activities, including crowdfunding. An agreement in the form of an agreement is one of the important points in the effort to meet the needs of the community. (*)
Author: Tunjung Senja Widuri
Editor: Binti Q. Masruroh
