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Henry Chakava

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East African Publishers, Kenya

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nAfter graduating from the University of Nairobi in 1972, Henry Chakava was looking at postgraduate scholarshipnoffers from local and international universities. While thinking through his options, his lecturer at the Department of Literature,nProfessor Andrew Gurr, arranged a temporary job at the Nairobi office of Heinemann Educational Books Limited (HEB). This temporary jobninstead became a life dedicated to books as he fell in love with publishing.n

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nBeginning as an apprentice in 1972, Henry Chakava rapidly rose through the HEB ranks to become Managing Director in 1976. He retired inn2000 and was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of East African Educational Publishers Limited, Heinemann’s successor.n

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nAfter initially starting as a net importer of books from the United Kingdom (UK), HEB began local production, growing a list whichnincorporated variety, including indigenous language books. Books by Africans, from Africa, about Africa, and with a primary Africannmarket were increasingly gaining demand. Along with former HEB Managing Director, Bob Markham, Chakava set up Tinga Tinga, whichnfocused on African books. The model involved reviewing the Kenyan catalogue, selecting books that would be of interest to a globalnaudience, and then shipping and stocking them in the UK for global distribution. Despite the slow uptake, it was hailed by those whonbenefited, especially scholars. So, when the idea to set up the African Books Collective was mooted in 1985, he embraced itnwholeheartedly. As part of our research into ABC’s foundation, tonmark our 30th anniversary, last year we asked those present at the beginning of this hugely important initiative a few questions.nHere is what we learnt from Henry Chakava… n

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nHow did you come to know the individuals/organisations that came to make up ABC at the start?n

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nThe 1980s was a period that saw a rising interest in African book publishing, both in Africa and abroad. Book-related events such asnconferences and exhibitions would be organised in Africa, the UK and Europe, and these efforts culminated in the formation of ABC.n

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nOne of the key founders of ABC, Hans Zell, who was the first manager, has meticulously documented the events leading to the establishment ofnABC. But what I can say is that two ‘Bookweek Africa’ events and exhibitions held at the Africa Centre in London, in 1982 and in 1985,nplayed a significant role in the eventual establishment of ABC.n

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nThere were also other events at the time which were a product of these collective efforts: the first Zimbabwe International Book Fair inn1983 and the Development of Autonomous African Publishing Capacity seminar organized by the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, in Arusha,nTanzania, in April 1984. Among other issues, there were discussions about the need for more effective marketing of African publishednbooks in the UK, Europe, and North America, and the need for collective action. I was a participant at that Arusha seminar, whichneffectively articulated issues relating to African books and African publishers venturing further afield.n

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nWith the support of Swedish SIDA and some other donor organizations, an ‘African Publishers Working Group Meeting on Collective ExportnMarketing and Promotion’ was convened at the Grafton Hotel, London from 13 – 16 October 1985. It had representatives from 11 Africannpublishers, including from Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Ghana, and Senegal. This was the gathering that led to the formation ofnAfrican Books Collective Limited, formally registered as a UK company limited by guarantee in January 1990, with actual tradingnactivities starting in May.n

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nWhat interested you about the initiative, what opportunities did you see, and how quickly did you agree to join up?n

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nMy tenure as MD of Heinemann saw the company drastically change its trading and operational models, especially with regard tondiversified publishing. I strongly believed that an Africa-based publishing firm had the moral and philosophical obligation to publishnlocally generated content, which would serve the continent better. At the same time, although I was working in a multinational,nHeinemann supported free thought, thanks to the progressive mindset of the Chairman, Alan Hill. I was therefore able to articulate mynideas during the various book events in Africa and Europe and warmed up to the 1985 discussions in London.n

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nTo me, this was a great opportunity for African publishers to explore the uncharted world, so to speak. It was a good chance to enablenAfrican-published authors to showcase their talent far and wide. Through this initiative, the world would get to know that, indeed, greatnwriting was coming out of Africa. And certainly, it would provide a new revenue stream for the struggling publishers and, by extension,nauthors. In particular, it would bring in the much needed foreign exchange. So I could only imagine how vibrant ABC would grow, surmount thenchallenges of having to plead with Western booksellers to have African-published books stocked in their stores, among other distributionnchallenges.n

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nEach of the founding members contributed £1,000, a considerable sum for independent publishers in 1990. Did this investmentngive you pause as the ABC model was untested?n

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nIndeed, £1,000 was a substantial amount of money at the time. Thankfully, my own £1,000 was paid by the outfit I have just mentioned, TinganTinga.nBut most of the founding publishers were struggling with a myriad of financial challenges. Yet, the resolve was strong among all of us. Nonhurdle would stand in our way. We were determined to experiment with the idea and the outfit, work diligently to make it a success, andnensure its sustainability.n

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In the end, we were vindicated.

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Do you recall the early challenges? And how did you tackle them?

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No new initiative is short of challenges, and ABC faced some headwinds during its formative years.

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nOne of the challenges was to develop and publish books that would meet international standards. Professional book editors and proof readersnwere very few, facilities for book production in Africa were not as advanced as in Europe, and printing high quality products locally wasnalso not guaranteed. It was therefore rather difficult to have a competitive edge against other products published in the UK and other partsnof Europe, America, and Australia.n

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nWarehousing was also a challenge. In the first place, rental premises in London have always been prohibitively expensive. Yet, ABC wasnoperating on a shoe-string budget, mainly supported by donors such as SIDA of Sweden, the Canadian CIDA, and the Rockefeller Foundation,namong others. We could therefore not take up a big space, however much we wanted to have huge stocks from all the participating publishers.n

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nThen there was the issue of creating a workable distribution model, with a base in London, but targeting Europe, Australia, and NorthnAmerica.n

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nWe also had to contend with the challenge of balancing between over-stocking and out-of-stock. On the one hand, we did not want to have hugenstocks due to constraints of space, yet on the other, we were wary of disappointing our few and faithful customers by running out of stock,nespecially on key titles. It was a delicate balancing act.n

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nDue to economies of scale, the ABC model did not lend itself to children’s books, which was sad because one of the strengths of EAEP was innchildren’s literature. At the same time, I strongly believed (and I still do) that the best way to showcase a people’s cultural products isnthrough children’s literature.n

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nDid ABC immediately open up opportunities for your respective publishing houses with the donor support, or was it a whilenbefore the benefits were evident? What hopes did you have?n

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nLet me start by saying that Heinemann Kenya, and later EAEP, wasnalready a fairly big publishing house by African standards. So as much as we were keen on ABC, we were not geared towards publishing fornABC per se. Our textbooks for primary and secondary schools in Kenya were performing well in the market, and ABC thereforenserved as the icing on the cake, so to speak.n

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nWe were however eager to expand the market for our scholarly and general trade publications, and ABC provided the perfect opportunity fornthis. Throughout the 1990s, EAEP’s books dominated the ABC list, and authors were particularly happy that their products were made availablento the rest of the world. They were also able to earn some additional revenues in the form of royalties accruing from ABC sales.n

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nIn addition, the ABC sales provided the much-needed foreign exchange, especially during a time when there were foreign exchange restrictionsnin Kenya, and availability of the US dollar or UK pound was not only good for business but also quite prestigious. We were therefore ablento run a fairly active dollar account.n

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nThe move to digitise was clearly exciting and a game-changer for the organisation. What did you think of it at the time andnsubsequently? What were the practical challenges?n

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nThis came at a time when we had started experiencing donor-fatigue. The support was waning, and we had to devise a self-sustaining model.nSuch a model required cost-containment measures to be implemented, which included reducing the rental space.n

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nSo when the idea of Print-on-Demand was mooted by the new manager, Mary Jay, we warmly embraced it because it meant saving on warehousingnspace.n

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nIn addition, I was cognisant of the fact that book publishing was headed the digital way, and this was just but the beginning of thatngradual transition.n

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nHowever, shipping physical stocks back to Kenya was rather expensive, and we had to wrack our brains on the best route to take: donate toncharity in London, pulp the books, or ship them at a cost, then price them well to recoup the shipment cost. In the end, the three modelsnwere adopted, based on the advice from my sales and marketing team.n

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nDigitising of the books was also not easy. It involved scanning of the physical books to create soft copies, since they had been developednusing the old book production methods. Such scanning would introduce typographical errors, hence the need for thorough proofreading to weednthem out, and this came at an additional cost.n

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nHow have you seen the African cultural landscape alter during the years of ABC’s existence? Particularly in terms of Africanncultural autonomy as an aspect of the liberation agenda?n

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nAfrican cultural landscape has undergone significant changes since the birth of ABC, 30 years ago. First, in terms of education. There is annincreasingly rising number of educated elites, most embracing the science-oriented courses and taking up globally recognised roles. Othersnhave gone into academia and published widely, both locally and internationally.n

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nThere is a shift in terms of research and books that are being published. A focus on themes relating to colonialism, fight for independence,nand so on, has increasingly been replaced by those touching on corruption in post-independent Africa, environmental issues, leadership,namong other contemporary themes.n

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nPublished works have become diverse by the day, and virtually every theme is being explored. In terms of ownership of publishing firms, mostnof the multinational firms in Kenya have either been bought off by local outfits (like in the case of Heinemann which was acquired by EAEPnin 1992), or they have exited the scene after being edged out by local players (like in the case of Evans Brothers and Nelson).n

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nIndigenous publishing firms are increasing by the day. Some are set up by former staff of mainstream publishing companies, while others bynindependent entrepreneurs who do not have training or experience in publishing. Then there are those that have grown from self-publishingninitiatives. Most of these are started by scholars, and they have contributed towards increasing the number of scholarly publications innAfrica. Such publications have found space on the ABC list.n

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nHow healthy do you consider the African knowledge production landscape going into the future? Are there any particular trendsnyou see coming with new technology?n

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nThe terrain is clearly set for a vibrant future, especially in Kenya. Most publishers are embracing new publishing technologies very fast,nnew players are getting onto the scene, and partnerships with international players are also becoming a reality.n

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nThe increasing number of young techno-savvy and innovative graduates is helping in the shift towards digital publishing and online sales.nThis has seen a rise in works that are available as e-books, digital revision materials, and even animated versions of textbooks.n

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nAfrican governments are also supporting this shift by coming up with policies at the curriculum development centres, as well as guidelinesnon how to develop interactive digital content. They have also set aside substantial funding for rollout of digital learning, includingnrolling out programmes to supply digital devices to school children.n

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nThe world is more closely connected than it was when ABC began. Will there be more collaborations with Northern publishers andnuniversities? How do you see future relationships with the Northern knowledge industry?n

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nYes, indeed. Collaborations are bound to increase, especially through digital publishing and online sales. It is now easy to co-publish andnhave a book simultaneously launched in a number of countries, even continents.n

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nThe ease in acquiring rights, thanks to modern information and communication technologies, is also a boon to the concept of collaborations.n

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nThe only downside is that most publishing firms have concentrated on school books, so we are yet to have a proliferation of bold publishersnready to invest in trade and scholarly publishing, which lend themselves well for collaborations.n

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nIn addition, although technology has brought about endless opportunities, it has also eased in other negative aspects, like publishing andntrading in counterfeit books. This is killing creativity, and unless concerted efforts are put in place, it is likely to demoralise authors,nleading to less production of new titles.n

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How do you see ABC’s future and what hopes do you have for African publishing?

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nABC can only get better. First, advancements in modern technology have tremendously eased the ABC model of operations. Even before thenCovid-19 ‘new normal’, ABC had already adopted the concept of ‘working from home’, thanks to technology and a futuristic mind-set.n

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nABC has been able to contain operational costs and hence consistently increase profitability, due to this futuristic mind-set that looks atnthe laptop as an office in itself, as opposed to having a physical office. This will continue to define its operations.n

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nStill on technology, digital books have continued to gain currency, especially the categories that sit well on the ABC catalogue. It isneasier and faster to publish digitally, because the time-consuming and financially impacting physical printing is not there. This model willntherefore be a major contributor to ABC’s growth.n

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nThe growth of African publishing firms, from self-publishers who endeavour to produce professionally done books, to big firms that havenvariety, means that ABC’s list keeps growing. I anticipate much more growth in this arena in terms of more titles, wider categories, andnmore revenues.n

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nI also must mention that the founder council members have now exited the scene and ushered in new and younger blood, which is expected tonbring in new, and shall I add, bold, ideas to ABC. With this change, I expect renewal and reinvigoration of ABC.n

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nIn terms of its engagements at book exhibitions such as the London and Frankfurt book fairs and at American university centres, Inanticipate a bigger physical and virtual ABC stand, more involvement of authors during the fairs, more trading in rights, among others.n

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nIn a nutshell, just like I am proud to see the significant growth of ABC in the last 30 years, I am certain that the year 2050 will find ABCnswirling in space, serving continents and countries with every imaginable form of reading material from Africa.n

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