A rather entrepreneurial friend of mine realized the Malaysia didn’t really have any niche bookstores that offered free delivery. Sure all the medical students knew where to get their textbooks from, and the designers knew where the best design books could be bought–but for the most part that involved a long trip to somewhere to the older parts of KL just to purchase a book or two. For some that may be a worthwhile sacrifice, just like buying electronics from lowyat, but for others that may involve either driving from Penang or even further just to get your hands on a desperately needed textbook at a an affordable price, that seemed a rather big price to pay.

So looking into that gap, he decided to start Unibooks, and what really makes me excited for him is the speed in which he manage to create the startup from nearly scratch and the fact that we’re seeing a lot of local startups flourish to meet the needs of Malaysians–the same needs that seem to be ignored by the bigger retailers.