Crowdfunding success for Russian Islam guidebook and halal SME directory

Photo: Guide to Islam publication crowdfunding project on Boomstarter / Courtesy Olim Kabilov

MOSCOW – A new handbook, “Guide to Islam: Changing Stereotypes”, has been allowed on one of Russia’s most popular crowdfunding platforms that is well-known to be very selective of its support for religion-based projects.  

Anna Sysoeva from crowdfunding platform Boomstarter told Salaam Gateway, "Guide to Islam: Changing Stereotypes" draws attention to the negative perception of Islam in the modern world and allows readers to re-position unfair stereotypes. Boomstarter supported the project as the original [publication the handbook is based on,] Muhammad Pocket Guide received positive feedback in the West and relayed the true essence of Islam to a wider readership.”

Salaam Gateway speaks to Olim Kabilov, e-commerce serial entrepreneur and fundraiser, about this new project that succeeded in meeting the initial fundraising target and is hopeful for another $6,000. 

Photo: Olim Kabilov, Russian entrepreneur / Courtesy Olim Kabilov

Why did you start crowdfunding for the handbook and why did you choose Boomstarter?

In 2014, after leaving my position as head of sales in a corporation, I experienced hard times of self-employment and low income. In my search for business opportunities, I crowdfunded a project that was based on motivational quotes from the Quran and hadiths that had guided me during my hard times.

I went onto two of Russia’s most popular crowdfunding platforms for two different versions of that project: On the first platform Planeta the project, “365 Days of Gratitude” postcards sent monthly to veterans of the 1941-1945 war, brought in 130,000 rubles ($2,000) from 400 people; on Boomstarter, “365 Days of Motivation” scratch-off calendar with daily quotes, raised 308,000 rubles ($4,900) from 300 people. The math was simple.

This was when I learned that crowdfunding was still an unfamiliar tool in Russia, but that is helpful to raise funding, and to test target markets and audiences.

What is so special about your current project “Guide to Islam: Changing Stereotypes”?

The prototype of the book is a well-known bestseller “Muhammad Pocket Guide” (MPG) that was published by (Qatar-based) Alnoor Holdings in 2010. MPG is a pictorial biography of the Prophet, and it gives basic knowledge about Islamic civilization.

MPG has a very poor Russian translation. The chairperson of the Moscow Muslim Religious Board, Ildar Alyautdinov, negotiated the exclusive right to republish MPG with reworked texts and asked me to be a part of the project. The ultimate goal of the book is to educate Muslims who are not familiar with faith, to explain Islam to friends and those who are about to convert.

What was the process of reworking the Russian version of “Muhammad Pocket Guide”?

The Moscow Muslim Religious Board reworked the translation, and we changed the title and design of the book. We teamed up with designer Vasily Kassab for a minimalist, non-oriental aesthetic. We use high-resolution images, hard cover and 130-gram glossy paper.

We also wanted to make the Guide more practical for daily use, so we included a directory of SMEs for the Muslim community in Moscow, and incorporated advertising opportunities within the Guide, too.

What are your costs and timeline? How will you spend the money?

To raise money via Boomstarter we invested in promotion. Advertising on YouTube, Facebook, Vkontakte (Russia’s most popular social network), and production of videos and leaflets, all these added up to 100,000 rubles ($1,600). The Moscow Muslim Religious Board covered these costs.

The campaign was launched on May 27 and the deadline is July 14. Our target was 700,000 rubles ($11,000) to publish 5,000 copies. We received 650,000 rubles ($10,000) from a private supporter on the second day of the campaign. Inspired by this generosity, we increased the target to 1.2 million rubles ($19,000) to print 10,000 copies. Up to today, we have raised 806,000 rubles ($12,800).

Despite the deficit, we will print 10,000 copies by the middle of August. The Moscow Muslim Religious Board will cover the bill. We will cooperate with Dilya and Risalat, two publishers that specialize in Muslim literature. We have interest from Ozon, Labirint and other book retailers from Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Taking into consideration production and distribution costs, the most affordable retail price will be around 300 rubles ($4.70).

What are the next steps?

We will update the directory of halal SMEs in Moscow and include other cities. As for potential partnerships, we are thinking of tourism and airline companies from Asia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, whose clients would be happy to get a copy of the book that would be useful for Muslim travelers in Moscow. 

As for my plans, I will explore Kickstarter and launch another campaign targeting the international English-speaking audience.

What advice would you give crowdfunders in the global Islamic Economy?

Despite the hard timing during the month of Ramadan and the rather muted response from the Moscow Muslim community, the project took off. My advice to everyone is not to give up. Crowdfunding is a great tool to test your idea.

The key success factor would be to think in-depth about the needs of your client and communicate the benefits clearly.

© SalaamGateway.com 2016