IBA students launch online book portal

Pakistan News & Features Services

Two students of the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Imran Hemani and Safeer Hussain, have come to the rescue of students by launching IBA Bookery.com, an online bookshop, on the eve of the new semester. 

The duo of Imran Hemani and Safeer Hussain has developed the portal with the support of their course supervisor, Erum Abbasi. The book portal, aimed to serve the fellow students of the prestigious institution of Karachi, was launched on August 25. 

It has been hailed as a well-organized student initiative which other institutes could follow for serving the community involved in the buying and selling of books through haphazard channels. 

“During our technology entrepreneurship course last year, we pitched in ideas to establish a platform for students to buy and sell textbooks via a few clicks. The students can place their textbooks for sale at the portal by following four easy steps, while others can buy them and start their new semester without any hassle. We take care of delivery within the campus free of charge,” Imran Hemani remarked in an interview. 

“The seniors at academic institutions are usually hesitant about asking money from juniors in exchange for used books. At the IBA Bookrey.com, they can choose to remain anonymous. Another benefit of the portal was that students usually received around 30 to 40 per cent of a textbook’s actual market price when they went to the market for resale. The bookshop owners, however, resell the second-hand textbooks at around 60 to 80 per cent of the actual market price. The sellers will be able to get a better price,” Safeer Hussain explained. 

“At present, it is a completely free venture for IBA students, but we plan to expand it to other universities in the years to come by designating ambassadors to help the project grow. With this expansion, the sellers will become premium account-holders of our website by paying a very reasonable amount,” he added. 

The initiative would also serve as the first significant project for a start-up company in the web and graphics design industry, the Big O Studios, established by the duo around two years ago.