Newly launched student website now connecting fellow student entrepreneurs and youth entrepreneurs to student consumers
STUDENT entrepreneurs launched a new website called CampusPlug which was founded by honours student Bongani Frank Masilela and postgraduate student Boitumelo Mpakanyane.
CampusPlug is a website that allows students to list services and products that they offer, on the platform, to consumers which aremainly students. These services and products range from a variety of items such as tutors, textbooks for all faculties and years, student clothing brands and more. CampusPlug offers warehousing for their clients, advertising as well as the delivering of products nationwide. It allows users to outsource logistics to CampusPlugand the website allows you to make money while you sleep,” said Mpakanyane.
According to Masilela, Student Village website says that the student consumer market spends over R28 billion a year, which is lucrative and now these Witsies are trying to cash in on these huge profits, but there is no platform for it therefore. Masilela and Mpakanyane took this as a business opportunity by developing the CampusPlug. Through the platform, student businesses can now connect with student and non-student consumers across South Africa.
CampusPlug aims to empower young entrepreneurs on a more formal business platform rather than “hustling” said Mpakanyane. It will help them establish themselves as commercial brands.
CampusPlug is not only for students, but it is for anyone under the age of 27yearsold. Businesses and/or entrepreneurs over the age of 27 have to partner up with a current student in order to get their services and products into the market. This reinforces CampusPlug’s aim to empower young entrepreneurs and the “students are primarily benefiting from the sales” of the business said Masilela.
In respect of the current student financial struggle that challenge many South African students; CampusPlug founder, Mpakanyane, said that, “we’ve assumed a lot of the burden onto ourselves and sort of lost faith in the idea of the state helping us and therefore to a huge extent student entrepreneurship is growing, because of the fact ‘I need to pay for tuition, I need to pay for this and that, I need to make a contribution at home,’ which results in students having very real financial burdens and I think that sort off contributed to the rapid acceleration of youth entrepreneurship.”
Angella Ruth Nyasulu, a postgraduate in LLB and a CampusPlug user says the website is extremely user friendly. “The design of the interface, as it appears on a mobile device, makes it easy to navigate. I also get to personalise my business page. It also resembles the social media mobile apps that we all use, so one doesn’t need any extensive tutorials to get a grip of how to use the website.” She said she would definitely recommend it to other entrepreneurs and students.
CampusPlug launched its new website to consumers this week.
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