While the average internet user enjoys access to unprecedented volumes of ‘free’ music, films, books and articles, free content has posed a surprisingly powerful challenge to growth across the global economy. Newspapers struggle to survive in a world where readers no longer expect to pay for journalism, while the music and television industries still haven’t devised a solution to the thorny issue of easy and instant piracy.
South Africa, however, is showing signs of reversing the negative free content trend.
South Africa urgently needs to reduce crippling education costs. In the context of a dire national recession, the country’s buckling tertiary education system threatens to undermine long term growth prospects. In response to this crisis, an innovative free content partnership between the Gautrain Management Agency (GMA) and Bookboon has delivered impressive, paradigm shifting returns.
Underpinned by support from private and public sectors globally, Bookboon offers free e-books in finance, engineering, IT and marketing, along with business skills books for entrepreneurs and professionals. The Bookboon library has been available to Gautrain commuters – for free – over the last year.
Over 185,000 Gautrain commuters have downloaded a book from Bookboon over this time, with one in every four passengers taking advantage of the free content offer. The cost saving achieved in just 10 months amounts to roughly R55 million – a significant amount in a country desperately seeking ways to bring down the cost of education.
“We’re delighted with how commuters have embraced the opportunity to learn and expand their horizons with free educational books from Bookboon,” says Gautrain senior executive manager for Communication and Marketing, Dr Barbara Jensen. “This project offers a perfect illustration of how the mobile revolution can drive an inclusive digital future in Africa. We have the power to improve access to education and other services across the continent, and to use free content to drive economic growth and social development.”
Following the success of the first year of the initiative, Gautrain has renewed its partnership with Bookboon for a second year.
“Gautrain has illustrated how Africa can re-configure digital platforms to leapfrog the rest of the world,” says James van der Westhuizen, country manager for Bookboon. “This project is a case study in forward-thinking afro-optimism, led by Gautrain, as pioneering Bookboon sponsor in South Africa. Given the urgency of the education and economic growth challenges in the country, we need to exploit the potential free content holds to slash the cost of one of the key components in the education mix – textbooks.”
“The Gautrain Bookboon initiative can easily be replicated in a huge variety of contexts across the country, from malls to sports stadia to universities and taxi ranks. But for this to happen we need leadership from the private and public sectors,” he says. “The Gautrain model must be repeated as often as possible. We have the tools at our disposal to meet South Africa’s education and economic growth challenges. Now it’s up to us to use them.”
With a significant 1.6million downloads in SA in 2016 alone, contributing R2billion to education, van der Westhuizen cautions that the South African free education status of Bookboon e-books is uncertain. Significant private and public sector leadership will be required to maintain the current success trajectory and free status of these e-books.
About Bookboon
Bookboon, the world’s largest publisher of electronic books provides students and professionals access to free textbooks and e-books in key subjects such as engineering, IT, business and finance.
Contributing at least R2billion to education in South Africa, Bookboon boasts 1million downloads in SA and 5million in Nigeria per year.
Providing access and affordability to students across the globe, with a specific focus on emerging countries, BookBoon’s text books are mostly funded from advertising and not from sales.
The Bookboon+ Network which includes a high-powered social movement of 40 top corporate CEOs and entrepreneurs ensures that Bookboon remains a sustainable and growing service.
