Maties students launching free marketplace website to stop campus scams

When registration protests flared up at Stellenbosch University early last year, most saw a campus gridlocked by systemic financial strain. But for Albert Kotze, a BCom International Business student and Jonathan Fleming, a BSc Chemistry student, the sight of peers unable to register due to outstanding fees hit a far deeper nerve.

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Looking around, Kotze noticed another pattern: students were desperately trying to make ends meet by buying and selling textbooks, clothing, and small goods through a chaotic, fragmented web of WhatsApp and Facebook groups. Kotze told Daily Maverick that these open platforms were rampant with bad actors and scams because anyone could join.

“I decided to try and centralise all these different mediums of trading into a singular app that any student can use, whether to just sell a textbook or to actually run a storefront for their business,” Albert said.  

That spark became CampEX, a dedicated, safe online marketplace built strictly for the Stellenbosch community. Soon after the concept took shape, Fleming joined the mission to help drive the project forward and manage its official launch.

Built for safety, priced for free

According to Kotze, CampEX operates on a simple principle – keeping outsiders out to keep students safe. To register, users must possess a valid @sun.ac.za email address, automatically vetting every single buyer and seller as an authentic Matie student or staff member.

Beyond digital security, the duo has tackled physical safety too. The platform features built-in chat messaging where users can coordinate meet-ups, complete with pre-verified designated trading zones or safe spaces around campus, such as near the university library or the Student Centre, where transactions can take place securely. 

“We have no interest in making money off students,” Fleming emphasised candidly. “I don’t think it’s very ethical to try and make money off of people who are financially vulnerable.”

To keep the lights on, the pair plan to fund the platform purely through targeted advertising space sold to local Stellenbosch businesses, offering students relevant deals on coffee, stationery and daily essentials without taking a cent from their trades.

Students join in

While the platform gears up for its official campus-wide launch in the next few weeks, the buzz is already building. Early testing with about 21 active accounts, comprising friends, student entrepreneurs and staff, has drawn overwhelmingly positive feedback.

Daily Maverick spoke with SU students who have accounts on CampEX. Keegan Jappie, a Bachelor of Arts (Humanities) student, said this would bring students closer, and that it called for support. 

“You know that the item placed on the application comes from one of your fellow Matie members, and that creates a sense of security because you are not buying an item on an application that’s filled with the unknown,” said Jappie.

He added: “We are the future of tomorrow, each one of us. As we are on a journey of expanding our knowledge, we are doing it as a collective unit, hence the reason it’s so important to support each other. Especially when these students one day will create many opportunities for other members of our society and perhaps even one of their fellow student members.” 

Another student, Carl Olfin, said the initiative provided security for students compared with other selling platforms.

“I think the added security features that it provides by being on a centralised and managed system will reduce the ability for scams, especially from people outside the university. As well as making it generally easier to search for a specific item.

“Secondly, I think that the initiative shown by students should be supported, as these are solutions to problems that they have faced, but also that many other students face. And the support shown might encourage more students to become interested in entrepreneurship,” said Olfin.

Business and books

While the students aim to launch a business, academics also need to be considered. Both students said they always find time to manage things. 

“I think it’s definitely time management. It’s probably one of the bigger things, I would say, because at the end of the day, you’re a student first. We’re paying a lot of money to be here, so you want to make sure that you take advantage of the opportunity of being here. It’s a big balancing act; you try and make it work,” said Kotze.

Meanwhile, Fleming said: “You’d be surprised how much time you actually have on your hands when you do things correctly, when you don’t waste time on certain things. University is very much a time management thing, and you learn that in your first and second year... We’re able to time manage really well and be able to properly focus in on certain things, to allow us to work on campus and give us this valuable time to grow this,” said Fleming. 

Future plans

While the immediate focus is perfecting the model at Stellenbosch, the vision doesn’t stop at SU, said the students.

“The plan at the moment is to essentially [legitimise] the model within Stellenbosch, see what works, and over time start expanding to other universities,” says Albert.  

With millions of tertiary students across SA facing similar financial pressures, according to the duo, CampEX might just be the blueprint for a safer student economy across the nation’s campuses. DM