For 24-year-old software developer Thilak Desingh S.G., the week never ends. After five days of coding, there is no time to put his feet up and relax. In fact, it’s only during the weekend that he has considerable work for his feet.
When I get in touch with him last weekend, he reels off a list of things to be done on Saturday and Sunday.
They include delivery of used copies of novels to a resident in Triplicane, handing over two used IIT-JEE books to a student in Mogappair and picking up used books from three different areas.
“Actually, this weekend has been pretty relaxed. Sometimes, I would have to visit ten places,” says Thilak
If you have not guessed it already, Thilak is in the business of buying and selling used books. But he does it online. Chennaiusedbooks.com, his four-month-old start-up that was inspired by e-commerce sites like OLX and Amazon, seeks to make the process of buying used books easier. On the basis of requests, Thilak or his team would deliver a required book at the doorstep.
Thilak is living an entrepreneurial dream that first entered his mind when he was a student at SRM University. “In such a short time, I managed to have over 1,000 second-hand books and 250 customers,” says Thilak, adding that he is looking for a bigger space to keep his books. At present, he has them at a space in his house at Manapakkam.
Serendipitous idea
Thilak hit upon this entrepreneurial idea while preparing for JEE. He was looking for many reference books, and the experience led him to consider this idea.
“I wasted time at second-hand shops as books there are generally scattered. Besides lot of money being spent on buying petrol for my money, the effort took up considerable time,” says Thilak. At college, Thilak had noticed students leaving their books either in colleges or selling them to the kabadiwalla . “During my engineering days, to earn some pocket money I had sold my books on OLX,” says Thilak. So, he knew where to look for used books, especially text books.
When the online venture was launched, Thilak would go around and get books for which requests had been made on the website. Now, Chennaiusedbooks.com also picks up used books from the doorstep of customers.
“My initial investment was ₹800 that I spent to get the domain name,” Thilak says he started by first sourcing books from friends and well-wishers.
Chennaiusedbooks.com now has tie-ups with many second-hand shops. A majority of his customers are students who move out of a city/town after their studies.
The start-up offers books based on NCERT syllabus, engineering subjects and competitive examinations like JEE, GRE/GMAT. Novels are a recent addition.
Weekend enterprise
“We mainly operate during the weekends and I get help from my parents and friends,” he says. As for the future, Thilak has a plan of setting up a recycling plant to convert damaged, unused and outdated books into useful materials.
“If I get some funding, I would like to expand to other regions,” says Thilak.
Here’s a peek into another aspect of Thilak’s life. Thilak is a cricketer, representing BSNL Telephones in the Fourth Division.
For details, call 8668145559.
