A Novel Idea

There's a recent article on All Africa.com about a woman, Bibi Bakare-Yusuf , who is has a publishing house in Nigeria. The article details many of her struggles to keep her business afloat and also her commitment to finding and cultivating African authors which make for an interesting read. What really struck me, however, is that this is one of the few African business stories I've read about a company that is trying to sell a product that in developing markets might be considered "frivolous," unlike mobile phones or microfinance institutions.

While newspapers, magazines and text books all have a specific purpose, the idea of buying a novel is one that appeal mainly to people with reasonable disposable income and a good education. Here in the West we buy books for pleasure all the time, but as Ms. Bakare-Yusuf points out, in Nigeria "someone will spend 5,000 naira (~$43) on a self-help or management book, but ask them to pay 850 naira (~$7) for a novel and they will moan and groan." To me, this is a good sign that the population is both becoming more educated and has the necessary income to spend on books. This should bode well for many other businesses and investment opportunities.