Success Stories: Uni Book Club

Paul Rossington graduated from Leeds Met in 2008 with a first class honours Business Studies degree. Paul enlisted the help of Chris Wilkinson, a software expert and Simone Tanda, whom he met whilst studying in Germany to start an online book store for students, www.unibookclub.com.

Unibookclub.com will be a new online eBay style shop specialising in student-to-student used book sales - a facility that will enable students to sell on their used course books for a fair return whilst also providing new students with the means to source cheaper second hand course books from their peers. Unlike its competitors, Unibookclub.com will not charge sellers a listing fee but will charge a single transaction fee upon the completion of a sale. Online discussion forums, accessible reading lists and peer review will add a unique social networking element to the site which will be launched in May.

Paul, Chris & Simone have used a number of the services that Business Start Up provide, including the Business Concept Competition which they won in January 2009. The annual competition gives students and graduates the chance to win a cash prize to help develop their business idea. Unibookclub.com won £2000, and also went on to represent Leeds Met at the Regional Enterprise Awards against the 10 other Yorkshire universities.

They were also successful in this competition, winning a further £10000 in cash and services for their business. Paul says;

“The standard of the pitches was extremely high in this competition. Winning the cash is an amazing achievement, but we can also take encouragement from this success as it shows that we have got a good idea that is worth pursuing.”

In February 2009, Unibookclub were awarded the Business Start-Up Proof of Concept grant of £1000 to test the feasibility of their ideas. This financial assistance helped them to set up a website and a business bank account.

With a start up date planned for May 2009, Unibookclub.com have fully utilised the services and support available for young entrepreneurs in Yorkshire.

Keep an eye out for www.unibookclub.com in the future.