AkooBooks Featured in the September issue of the IPA Newsletter!

I am excited to be the second in a series of interviews in a newsletter with speakers at the International Publishers Association (IPA) Lagos Regional Seminar held in May this year.

Why did you get involved in publishing?

I love books. My parents instilled a love of reading in all of us at a very early age. Ten years ago, my mother, now 86, a children’s book author, started losing her sight and it was then I started to think about how technology could help her to read independently other than reading to her aloud.

I think it’s an exciting time for publishing in Africa. I want to combine my love of literature with my passion for all things digital. In Africa, writers face challenges of extremely low levels of literacy, poor distribution, sales channels restricted to physical book stores, and limited knowledge of digital publishing opportunities. The ability of African writers to be discovered by and know their readers, and to reach a global audience, is very small.

I have a new vision of what I want to do with African books and it starts with getting them on mobile devices such as mobile phones, iPads and tablets. My mother still reads extensively. Although for her, the printed word has gone, the contents remain accessible to her anytime, anywhere.

I want to create a meaningful technology company that solves one of the biggest problems of our continent — illiteracy — and also to demonstrate that women can lead in a traditionally male dominated industry!

The full interview is available on the IPA website here.