Student-Focused Startup, FundoLinker, Ups Efforts To Connect Entrepreneurs With Mentors

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FundoLinker, the student-focused startup that tries to connect students with bigger companies in order to offer entrepreneurs with more opportunities, is entering their second phase. They are now seeking to partner with organisations since they already had a user base ready to receive.

You may have heard of FundoLinker but if you haven’t, let’s get to that since we are already here. In their won words FundoLinker:

FundoLinker is a dedicated education platform for schools, companies, industry veterans and crowd donors who meet and collaborate to (i) craft and implement curricular (ii) offer career guidance, professional counselling, financial help, information and jobs to students (iii) provide students with better education, entrepreneurship and employment opportunities. FundoLinker was founded in January 2016 and is a registered Zimbabwean company.

The startup links students to an integrated set of companies, schools, professionals and donors for better education, entrepreneurship and employment opportunities.

Who has recognised them thus far?

As testament to what they have been doing FundoLinker has been recognised multiple times by different organisations and these include:

The startup is now on the verge of rolling out their second platform aka FundoLinker 2.0. The main focus of FundoLinker 1.0 was to build up a foundation network consisting of individuals, students, parents, guardians, individual crowds donors and industry veterans.

What’s the second phase about?

With 2.0 FundoLinker now shifts their focus to organisations primary and secondary schools, universities, polytechnics, colleges, training institutions, and companies.

The reason why FundoLinker 2.0 had to build up the user base before the organisational partners came into the equation. This was easier than getting organisations to join before users because users did not have to contend with any administrative issues or any risk and users could patiently wait for the organisational network to build up after having joined the platform which is not necessarily true if we spin the situation on its head. For organisers to join they would probably want to join something with a high user base.

Now that FundoLinker has a user base of more than 600 000 users and all the accolades we mentioned above, it is easier to convince the organisations to partner with them and thus increase revenues which in turn will increase profits.

When the platform has both individual users and organisations the support platform that FundoLinker had envisioned can now become a reality and the service will be able to provide individuals with:

  • Career guidance
  • Financial help
  • Information
  • Jobs

FundoLinker believes their new version of FundoLinker will undoubtedly excite many students and other individuals because people want to know how companies work and this tool will give them a sneak-peek into various business models and how they work. The fact that these very same companies will be able to also offer guidance to individuals increases the appeal.

18 comments

  1. The man

    Its a lost project without pure thinking. No value and hope

    1. Charles Chigoriwa FundoLinker CEO, cofounder, and Head of Community

      Criticism is good especially when it is constructive. I don’t know why you deem a student support platform like FundoLinker as valueless and hopeless. FundoLinker is a student support platform through which schools, companies, industry veterans and crowd donors are able to work together to provide career guidance, financial help, information and jobs to students. FundoLinker, a Zimbabwean startup which was founded in January 2016, is increasingly gaining recognition and popularity in the world. On the 30 th of April 2018 FundoLinker was included among 10 best African recruitment/skills tech startups by Moguldom and The World News. On the 10 th of November 2017 FundoLinker was among 15 SADC startups for the Startup Europe Comes to Africa, Capetown Injini EdTech accelerator. Seedstars World rated FundoLinker as one of the 10
      most promising startups in Zimbabwe on the 25 th of October 2017. An Indian higher education community, Edoofa is eager to join FundoLinker together with its affiliated universities. These are some of the tremendous achievements FundoLinker has achieved in phase 1. We are not lost at all as we are propelling the project forward. There all always doom-sayers but our community is poised to benefit from this project.

    2. Gibson Matsambe

      How do you say it’s a lost project when these guys are making progress like this. The World News, Moguldom, SeedStars World, Startup Europe Comes to Africa and other organizations who are praising FundoLinker can’t be wrong. Your “discouraging” comment is sounding jealousy. Let us learn to give credit where it is due. Never ever underrate the team which never gives up like FundoLinker. FundoLinker: Building skills together!

    3. Realist

      This is the mind crippling mentality that has hindered innovation and creativity in our communities and Africa. Before dismissing a credible idea, stop and think first. How do you define value and hope, value is when you see the usefulness of a platform like this. Value is when a student sees the opportunities that lie ahead of him/her all in one place, thus providing a well informed career guidance. Value is when a promising student from a poor background is sent to school by crowd funding. Value is when a willing individual donates a dollar that would in turn send someone deserving to school. I can honestly say this platform can revolutionarize the way our education system operates. There is a huge drive to support our students to think like entrepreneurs, platforms like this will provide a stepping stone in that direction. This is quite exciting and for any true educationists real value can be drawn from this platform. Go Fundolinker go, we need giants like you to change our mind sets @The Man this is real HOPE 🙂

  2. Tafadzwa Dewe

    The crowd scholarship feature of FundoLinker in particular is quite useful to me. Well done the FundoLinker team for such an innovation. Well there are always people who are inhibitive to your success. Stay focused. It’s good to be a contrarian.

  3. Van Lee Chigwada

    The man is filled with hate. Envy?
    It may be a lost cause or whatever, but the moment you have 100,000 real people focused on your project then the criticism doesn’t matter.

    If it isn’t constructive, let it deconstruct itself.

    This is a great initiative. A few years back, I needed something like this, it’d have been easier to grow my start-up.

    The model is also solid: build up a rep, get a user-base and then bring in the big guns.
    You folks are already in stage 3 of a successful product.

    I applaud.

  4. Mubvumbi weRugare

    @The Man , you dont have facts to support your argument and your statements are uncalled for.I have been closely watching the way Fundolinker has been developing and I can tell that these guys have come a long way. Fundolinker is humanitarian and national project which involves a lot of stack holders (parents , schools, veterans, companies).These guys they had to create an education community which involved getting people registered on their platform and surprisingly they have reached 600 000 + subscribers. That’s not a joke!!! .It shows me that these guys have worked hard and greater things are ahead of them.Kudos to you Fundolinker!!

  5. Chibaba Ndini

    @The Man needs spiritual deliverance.Alibaba.com founder Jack Ma, he faced this kind of criticism about his idea and ten years later he became the richest man in China and today he is the top guy in e commerce business .Only people marked as crazy are the ones who can change the world.@ The Man your statements are “NULL and VOID”.Learn to appreciate efforts.

  6. Imi Vanhu Musadaro

    Kkkk.. Funny all comments are just about @TheMan. Why do I have a feeling they are all from the same source.

    Anyway. I think these guys are doing great things. Most Zimbos are too analytical and dont pause to think about implementing their ideas. Its a great start guys. Keep it up.

  7. #AppreciateOthers

    This Fundolinker platform is the best that i have ever seen. Keep up the good work guys, we are behind you all the way. Its a matter of time before you explode into the whole world

  8. Anonymous

    Keep on pressing guys , you are doing a great job, let not criticism pull you down. No success has ever come easily. However @ The Man maybe you have some constructive criticism and your ideas can only help if you shed more light on the facts surrounding your option, and these guys can take it and use it so that Fundolinker can get in the direction that you feel like it should be going. Keep pressing guys I know you are on the right path

  9. #Student

    Many thanks to the Fundolinker team.As a student now i can get financially help from the crowd in the community,get career guidance from companies that i want to work for,get career guidance again from the veterans of the industry that will help me developing skills which can get me employed or develop my own ideas and this career guidance can give me information at any given time for employment opportunities,woow i must say this is amazing welldone team.

  10. Arthur Tapfuma

    We are encouraging people to join the FundoLinker community and help our multitude of students who are in dire need of career guidance, professional counselling, financial assistance, information, industrial attachment, apprenticeships and graduate trainee jobs.

  11. Khumbulani Ndlovu

    Superwowsome idea!

  12. WISDOM ZHARARE

    i like it

  13. FundoLinker Evangelist

    Millions of students are in dire need of career guidance, financial help, information, industrial attachment, apprenticeships and graduate trainee jobs. FundoLinker is proud to bring together companies, crowd donors, skilled people, universities, colleges, and primary and secondary schools to tackle this seemingly insurmountable problem head on.

  14. Takudzwa Muzvidzwa

    Great work Charles, keep it up.

    1. Charles Chigoriwa

      I am humbled Mr Muzvidzwa. We are determined to assist the children of @The Man and many other people so that they get career guidance, financial help, information and jobs as students from a united set of primary and secondary schools, universities, colleges, companies, industry veterans(like you) and crowd donors (like you too). Spread the FundoLinker gospel to your networks. FundoLinker is hear to stay. “FundoLinker yauya zvine power zvachose”.

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