Bambooks unveils digital library

A start-up company, Bambooks, has introduced an online digital library that allows Africans access books published by authors within the continent online.The library comes in a mobile app and a web application, which permits users’ to either read on their phones, tablets, and laptops at any time of the day as long as they have a valid subscription.

Bambooks offers users’ access to thousands of eBooks, magazines and comics from any internet connected device including mobile phones, tablets and computers. From romantic fiction to entrepreneurship, self-help, religious, and educational books, there’s something for every reader. Users simply go to the website or download the Bambooks mobile app from the Google Play store or App Store for free and sign up to start reading. Moreover, Bambooks offers an affordable membership plan that gives users unlimited access to the library; with a N500/per month and an annual plan of N5,000/yearly, users can subscribe using their debit cards or bank accounts.

Bambooks is a subsidiary of iConcepts, a technology company that pioneered the mobile content business in Nigeria and launched some of the first VAS services in the country such as CNN Breaking News alerts, Sky Sports, ChannelsTV news and Ring back Tunes. Their subscription services generated over $15m in annual revenues for the mobile operators in an industry that grew to a market size of $250m (quarter of a billion dollars).

The company is eyeing 450-million subscriber base, which is expected to grow at five per cent CAGR over the next few years. The penetration rate is forecast to reach 50 per cent by the end of 2023 and 52 per cent by 2025.

Head of Content Acquisition, Bambooks, Seun Ashaka, said: “Information is available to anyone that has access to the internet and mobile phones have become so smart you can do almost anything with them. “We estimate the publishing industry across Sub Saharan Africa to exceed a billion dollars in annual revenues by the end of 2018 and expect authors on our platform to earn a significant share of the market”.

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Bambooks, Ugo Okoye, said: “Bambooks will not only entertain and educate people but also improve literacy levels, break the cycle of poverty and create a better future for Nigerians. Bambooks also seeks to empower local authors by distributing and monetizing their craft across Nigeria and the continent.”