CREDIT: THE LONDONER
Chris Janssen is the founder of Textbooks for Change, which sells textbooks to students at deep discounts while making a positive global impact.

Students across Ontario are saving money on textbooks while making a world of difference to a student in another country.

Textbooks for Change was born of a fundraising idea by Western University student Chris Janssen. Collecting used textbooks from students and selling them to new students at affordable rates, he raised around $500 for Shinerama and Terry Fox in 2012.

After seeing what a major impact he'd made, Janssen decided the idea was worth growing.

Working with a friend named Patrick McNaught, Janssen collected more textbooks, planning to sell them to students at the beginning of the school year. The proceeds would be used to give microfinance loans to entrepreneurs around the world through Kiva.org. Books that didn't sell would be sent to students in need of educational material in Africa. Textbooks for Change was officially launched.

To get Textbooks for Change off the ground, Janssen received support from BizInc, a business incubator at Fanshawe and Western. “I came there with my idea and told them everything that's going on. [John Pollock] just picked my brain and asked a hundred questions, just to make sure that the plan was thorough and that everything was answered and out there.”

Janssen said he would “absolutely” recommend BizInc to other student entrepreneurs. “That would be the first resource I would go to.” He added that they offer insight, connections, expertise and advice to move you much further than you could go on your own.

Operating Textbooks for Change part-time as a student, and collecting books from Western students only, Janssen and his team have since given out more than $20,000 in microfinance loans, donated over $2,000 to non-profits, recycled and reused about 15,000 books and sent about 15,000 books to Africa.

“We saw we had such a tremendous impact just doing it part-time at Western that if we executed it properly and reached the scale we want, we could really make an impact,” Janssen said.

Now it's time to grow. “We definitely want to be across Ontario within the next two or three years and across Canada within five ... We want to give about $1 million to microfinance loans, donate close to that to non-profits and ship a million books to Africa. That's our goal for the next five years.”

Textbooks for Change represents the perfect blend of Janssen's interests. He studied Business at Western and received a certificate in Sustainability and Entrepreneurship. “I've always loved entrepreneurship, and before [Textbooks for Change], I was considering working for a nonprofit. I always wanted to give back in some way, so social business is the perfect [bridge] between entrepreneurship and giving back.”

Speaking only three weeks after making Textbooks for Change his full-time job, he was excited to see what the future holds. “This is throwing my whole heart into it, right now.”

Fanshawe students can help by donating their old textbooks at the bookstore in F building and the BizInc office in SUB 1035, or by holding a textbook sale. Half the proceeds from book sales are given to microfinance loans or the student club that helped raise the funds; the rest goes to Textbooks for Change to support their growth.

For more information on Textbooks for Change or to get involved, go to textbooksforchange.ca. See a full list of Textbook for Change's books for sale at tinyurl.com/tfc-amazon.

Kickstart your business with help from the people at BizInc — check that out at bizinc.ca.