You’ve heard of eBay. You’ve heard of Gumtree. Now you’ve heard of Sooqini. On eBay you buy stuff, on Gumtree you sell stuff. On Sooqini you do both. The service is being dubbed a “local peer-to-peer mark
etplace.”
One of the first of its kind in the UK to appear on a smartphone, and as co-founder Tiago Mateus puts it, “It’s simply a place where anyone can buy and sell any goods, skills or experiences with others in their local community. It’s completely free to post requests and make offers.”
You can now get or provide help to another student on any problem sets or coursework, get some to deliver Nando’s or Starbucks straight to you, get some cleaning done, get paid to do someone’s ironing, share a ride, find or be a tutor for a specific class, get someone to come cook for you, sell unwanted gig tickets or hire someone to promote your business. With Sooqini, you can really make money or get great deals for anything at your price and convenience.
And Sooqini is getting national recognition from student entrepreneur societies across the UK. As part of their commitment to fostering student entrepreneurship UK-wide the National Association of College and University Entrepreneurs (NACUE) have agreed to collaborate with Sooqini as they see the benefit its members will get from having such a marketplace available.
Students using it are already seeing the change it can make to their lives. Paulina Dabrowska, student at University of Westminster, said, “I recently joined Sooqini and very quickly made over £200 from jobs done in my own time. It’s exactly what I need.”
Having been given the hat tip in the popular press by former Dragons Den investor Julie Meyer and soon to be collaborating with student lifestyle and money management websites expect Sooqini to get big quick.
Westminster Enterprise Entity President, Goochie Shack thinks it’s worth getting involved: “Sooqini is a really amazing concept. It embraces everything that students really need, from getting anything cheaply, to making some money at their own schedule. I am glad to be working in partnership with them to make a big difference in our university.”
