Drakker Limited

They say that success comes from following your passion, and that certainly seems to be true for Lydie Hakizimana. As an avid reader, she and her husband Tunga Kalisa soon found their apartment filled with books they had picked up from their travels. They were both busy during the day, but they were free in the evenings and so they decided to open a small used bookshop in 2006. After seeing the interest in the community, they did a formal market survey to determine if there was enough demand to build a business.

Based on positive market research results, Lydie and Tunga founded a new company called Drakker Limited and began developing relationships with publishers. With full confidence in their mission, they went online to find "the biggest publisher in the world" and found the UK publisher Pearson Education, the global leader in educational publishing. After nearly a year of negotiation, Lydie won the sales territory of Rwanda and Burundi for reselling Pearson's textbooks.

The timing was right. The Rwanda Ministry of Education had recently ordered primary and secondary education to change from French to English and there was suddenly a great demand for English textbooks throughout the country.

Today in Rwanda, there is only one English textbook for every five children. Readers are a luxury. The national goal is to have one book for every child by 2015. The opportunity for Drakker Limited is great, even in the face of intense Kenyan and Ugandan competition. Lydie manages nine part-time sales representatives covering the five provinces of Rwanda. To assist in the growth, her husband Tunga Kalisa resigned from his management job at MTN, the large regional telecom, to join Lydie in setting strategy for Drakker.

Although Lydie and Tunga may not have as much time for leisure reading as they once did, as entrepreneurs they are building a vibrant business that is helping Rwanda build the knowledge-based economy it needs to fulfill its vision.

UPDATE: In September, 2010 Tunga was appointed as Chief State Protocol for Rwanda, and in November, Lydie was elected as president of the Junior Chamber International chapter in Rwanda.