Stroymoja: Turning the pages

The shareholders see the year ahead as time to change their strategy to realise their vision of making more people read as well as expand their business. They are already looking into the bigger East African market and are planning to start with Uganda.

They are also investing in the production and editing side of the business, to give better content to their consumers. Demand for bigger books is also great as most of Storymoja books are 100 and less pages, and they do not want to leave anyone out.

Storymoja feels Africa has the best writers but lacks the technology to bring it out and this hinders the growth of publishing houses. However, the company is determined to overcome such challenges.

Muthoni says that some people still bring in handwritten manuscripts, and even though they may be very good, there is need for something to be done to change this.

Last month, the books became available for online shoppers on Amazon, Uchuuzi and Mama Mikes, making them available for readers everywhere in the world, especially in Europe where Muthoni feels demand for African books is very high.

The company is also looking into other formats of presenting their books like having audio formats.

Ms Garland says the most important thing for a business to succeed is to have a clear vision of where you want your business to be. “The business vision must be shared among every shareholder,” she says.