About Us

Curiosity is an online platform where students, teachers, and communities across Africa can search, reserve, and receive books from an extensive and diverse catalogue of donated books and partner resources made available via Books2Africa – a UK registered charity (1152599).

Books2Africa was founded in 2012 by four African students from Nigeria during their time studying at UK universities. The charity is improving the quality of education in Africa through the provision of books, computers and educational resources that enable individuals and communities to acquire knowledge and achieve their full potential in a globalized world. Books2Africa collects and ships donated books and educational resources from individuals and organisations in the UK, reducing waste and increasing ‘readcycling’. The charity has already distributed more than 1 million books to students, teachers and communities across 20 African countries and now aims to distribute 1 million books every year – Curiosity will help achieve this.

Curiosity was launched in 2021 to enable Books2Africa distribute more donated books, to more people across Africa, more quickly. Thanks to funding from the individual and corporate donors who are part of the 1 Million Book Club, the charity currently ships 40,000 books every month to one of its 5 Distribution Offices in Africa. There the books are offloaded and organised in a warehouse by paid staff and volunteers ready for distribution to those in need. With Curiosity, every available title in stock can be viewed and reserved online, reducing the need to visit the Distribution Office in person and enabling a wider audience to gain access.

When reserving a book on Curiosity, individuals are required to register for a free Books2Africa Curiosity account, agree that books reserved will only be used for personal use and are limited to reserving up to 50 titles on each occasion. Institutions who require more books can register for a free organisation account which is subject to further verification checks before being approved. After opening a Books2Africa account, a contribution of £1 per book (equivalent in local currency of distribution office) Distribution Fee is required when reserving donated books on Curiosity to enable the charity to cover the costs incurred at destination – customs clearance, haulage from the port to office, warehousing, salaries, and overheads. Books reserved on Curiosity can then be collected from the Books2Africa Distribution Office or shipped to the recipient subject to additional local shipping charges.

Now everyone in Africa can have a book in their hands!

Learn more about Books2Africa at https://books2africa.org/ or contact us.