You already know which businesses in your area are going to make it.

Scouts find promising local businesses before anyone else does, at the market, on social media, and in their own community, and bring them to AfricanCrowd. You earn at every stage a business you found moves forward.

Start your application I already have an account

You will never be asked to pay anything. Scouts pay no joining fee, no training fee and no deposit. If anyone asks you for money in connection with this programme, it did not come from us.

AfricanCrowd is an equity crowdfunding platform for small and growing businesses, operated by AfricanCrowd (Pty) Ltd in Gaborone. You can see the live platform at africancrowd.capital.

The businesses that need capital are invisible to the people who have it

You have watched it happen. A business with queues out the door, a following on Facebook, customers who would put money in tomorrow if anyone asked them. Then it stays the same size for five years, because funding in Botswana still moves through introductions, collateral and boardrooms.

We cannot find those businesses from an office in Gaborone. You can find them, because you already buy from them.

Batho Motubudi, Founder, AfricanCrowd

What scouts do

Spot a business with real community pull. Log what you saw, with dates and evidence. Draft the first assessment on three things: how real the following is, whether the business can meet demand, and how formally it is set up.

A submission takes about twenty minutes once you know the business. Our team takes it from there, and every decision after that is made by a person.

How scouts earn

Scouting pays on outcomes, and it pays in stages. Four of the six payments happen before any campaign exists.

  1. A business you brought is accepted BWP 150.00

    Paid when our team confirms the assessment.

  2. The business confirms its own interest BWP 150.00

    Paid when the founder tells us themselves.

  3. The business registers on the platform BWP 150.00
  4. It clears our first assessment gate BWP 450.00
  5. Its campaign launches 0.28% of the target

    A percentage of the approved raise target, capped at BWP 2,800.00.

  6. Its campaign funds 0.35% plus a bonus

    A percentage of the target, capped at BWP 3,500.00, plus a bonus on what the campaign actually settled.

All amounts are gross and subject to any tax that applies.

What this means honestly. Most businesses you bring will stop somewhere along that line, and you keep whatever you reached. The early amounts are small and they arrive months before the large ones. Scouting builds. It does not pay this week.

Who this suits

Apply if

  • You move around your community every week and people tell you things.
  • You can write a clear paragraph about a business without being asked twice.
  • You are patient with money that arrives later.

Do not apply if

  • You need income this month.
  • You want a title without the field work.
  • You are looking for something you can do entirely from a phone without talking to business owners.

How we choose

A structured application, then a timed assessment drawn fresh for every candidate from a protected question bank. The strongest candidates meet our team, verify their identity, and complete a real work sample: find a business, write the note, and be scored on the same rubric our scouts are scored on in the job itself.

Every decision is made by a person, with a written reason on file. No part of this is automated.

Before you start

  • You sit the assessment once per application, alone, in one sitting. The questions run about 35 minutes and you should set aside 45. Each question is individually timed and you cannot go back.
  • Sit it somewhere you will not be interrupted, on a stable connection. Leaving the assessment screen twice may end your attempt. Repeated absences end it outright, and there is no way to undo that.
  • If your connection drops, the sitting is held and never marked against you. You can resume within 24 hours, up to twice, from the same question with the time you had left. Silence is read as a lost connection.
  • Candidates who reach the final stage upload an identity document and complete a short work sample.
  • If you are not selected this time, you can apply again after a 3 month rest period. A re-application draws a fresh set of questions, so retaking is never a shortcut.
  • You will need your Omang or passport number to apply.
  • One application per person. Duplicate applications are detected and removed from consideration.

Questions people ask

What can I realistically earn

The amount for each milestone is set out above, and those figures are fixed. What we cannot tell you yet is how many of the businesses you bring will move from one rung to the next, because we have not run this long enough to know.

So we are not going to give you a monthly figure. Anyone who gives you one for work like this is guessing, and you should treat the number accordingly. What we will do is publish real ranges once our first scouts have been working long enough to produce them, and you will see the same numbers we see.

What we can tell you honestly today is the shape of it. Most businesses you bring will stop somewhere along the line. The early milestones are small and they are the ones you will hit most often. The large amounts are rare and they come from campaigns that actually fund.

When do I actually get paid

A milestone is recorded the moment it is triggered, so you can see what you have earned as it happens. Payment is released on a monthly cycle once the milestone is confirmed.

The first milestone on a business you introduce is usually the fastest. Everything after that moves at the pace of the business, not at ours, and a campaign that funds can be months from the day you found it.

What if I find a business and someone else claims it

Before you record a business you run an availability check. Every check is logged with its timestamp, and that log is your evidence of who got there first if the business later becomes available. If you are blocked and you believe that is wrong, you lodge a claim with your evidence, the other side submits theirs, and a member of our team decides it with a written reason.

Do I need a qualification

No formal qualification is required. What matters is local knowledge, the ability to write clearly, and following through on something that pays later.

Can I do this alongside a job

Yes, and most scouts will. There are no fixed hours, no territory you are confined to and no minimum number of submissions. You choose when you work and how you find businesses.

How long until I hear back

We review applications in batches. You will hear from us within a week of submitting your assessment, whether or not you go forward.

Start your application

You will create an AfricanCrowd account and verify your email first, then land straight back on your application.

Start your application I already have an account

Scouts introduce businesses to AfricanCrowd. A scout is an independent contractor, does not represent AfricanCrowd, does not act on its behalf, and gives no advice of any kind to a business or an investor. Every assessment and every decision is made by the AfricanCrowd team.