The Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women.

Lydie Hakizimana

March 5th, 2009 Posted by Catherine Neill

Lydie Hakizimana owns Drakkar Bookshop in Nyarutarama, Rwanda. Always an avid reader, her idea of selling books occurred to her as she cleaned house one day and discovered she had 250 books in her basement. She opened a small bookshop. She used her savings to get a bigger building, added shelves and hired two students and began selling used and new books.

Her business now located in a residential area specializes in school books, novels for adults and children. Her main customers are expatriates, since the reading culture in Rwanda is still low and most Rwandans perceive books to be too expensive.

Recently named the Peason/Longman rep in Rwanda and Burundi, she now provides books to ministries, private companies and NGO’s. The bookstore is also a reseller of electricity, called CashPower in Rwanda.

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