Aoko Midiwo - Odembo, a prominent businesswoman, is the owner and managing director of Legacy Books, Nairobi. She is the Chairperson of Kenya Association of Women Business Owners (KAWBO). She is also the coordinator of the Kenya Enterprise Network and a member of the executive committee of East Africa Enterprise Network. Aoko is an experienced development consultant and entrepreneur. She is very active in the informal sector as a manager and consultant. She is a Board Member and Immediate Past Chairperson of Institute for Education in Democracy. An organization focusing on electoral issues and election monitoring in Kenya and Trustee of the League of Kenya Women Voters. She was responsible for the formation of this Nongovernmental organization committed to raising political awareness among women and girls in Kenya and Political Advocacy. Aoko holds a Masters degree in Public Administration from Atlanta University in Georgia (USA), a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science and history from the University of Nairobi and Postgraduate Certificate in Personnel Management from the Royal Institute of Personnel Administration in London.

In 1996, having until then worked in NGOs, Aoko, on deciding to become an entrepreneur, set up the Legacy Books. This is a development bookshop, perhaps the only one of its kind in Africa. Since 1999, the bookshop has been located in an up-market area a few kilometers north of Nairobi's central business district, at the in the Yaya Center, which is the second largest shopping mall in Kenya. The book-shop also has an out-let in another shopping mall simply called, The Mall, in the Wetlands side of Nairobi. Aoko established an active on-line catalogue at www.legacybookshop.com. This has been in operation since the year 2000. Since 2003, the bookshop has diversified to include a snack restaurant and a cyber-cafe in its Yaya branch which is opened for business from 9am to 9pm at night daily.

In addition, Aoko has recently introduced Legacy Books Press, a publishing wing focusing on development and books on culture. This is a logical growth area and Aoko intends to strengthen this as necessary. She says, "A key opportunity exists to open an additional branch of the shop and the snack restaurant in the Central Business District (CBD) of Nairobi. This would provide better access to existing and potential customers." The business has an established management structure. There are 15 employees, some who have college and university education. The Product/Services offered within the product mix ensures that one component "feeds" another. For instance the snack restaurant feeds the bookshop, the cyber-cafe and vice versa. The products are affordable services/products. With development of more products and suitable locations (Westlands shopping center, Central Business District and Yaya Center) Legacy Books envisions no limits for Business growth.

At the beginning, Aoko's primary objective was to stock material for the development needs of women and gender. Since 1996, the book-shop has become the premier resource center for books on community development in the areas of environment, micro-enterprise, disaster & conflict; business and administration; and African books on history, politics, culture, women & gender, children & youth and agriculture. The books-shop stocks topical and current global issues on international development economics, and current affairs. The book-shop has exclusive and non-exclusive stocks and distributorship rights for development publishers, a wide range of distributors, and small presses.

The packaging of Aoko's product is as unique, needed and indeed relevant to Africa's development. It is indeed Aoko's hope that in a liberalized and increasingly competitive market, Legacy Books will become a leading Kenyan bookshop with a publishing firm and successful franchises in other countries of East Africa. Legacy Books will be a Kenyan corporate success story that is in league with other companies that have weathered a difficult economic and uncertain political environment since 1996. Aoko has accumulated strong knowledge of the product and market and she has full confidence in Legacy Books's ability to continue to meet reading requirements of planners, development workers, professionals and students in Kenya and the East African region.

Ms. Aoko Midiwo-Odembo
Managing Director / Legacy Books

P.O. Box 68077
Nairobi. Kenya
Tel: 254-02-3873991
Fax: 254-02-3873993